Real estate
development
Restored brick warehouse with a black steel rooftop addition and an open courtyard
01 / Adaptive reuse · Arts DistrictConcept project

YARD / 4TH

Type
Adaptive reuse
Location
Arts District, Los Angeles
Program
Workspace, food hall, courtyard
Role
Developer
Status
Concept project

The thinking

What does a 1920s warehouse want to be next?

Keep the brick, the trusses and the light. Open the ground floor to the street, add only what the block is missing, and let the yard do the work a lobby never could.

  1. 01

    Keep what works

    The masonry shell and bow-truss roof stay. Structure is reinforced from the inside so the street face does not change.

  2. 02

    Open the ground

    Loading docks become the entrance. The yard behind them becomes the reason to come, and to stay.

  3. 03

    Add lightly

    One steel and glass level, set back from the parapet. From the sidewalk you see the old building first.

As found / as proposedDrag to compare

As proposed: the restored warehouse with its rooftop addition and open yard
As found: the warehouse boarded up behind a chain link fence
As foundAs proposed
Converted warehouse hall under a timber bow-truss roof

The best square footage on this site was already built.