MICROPLEX PROTOTYPE, 2021

Los Angeles, CA

An entry to the “Low-Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles” competition, Microplex is a prototype for transforming the typical single-family 7,500-square-foot lot into affordable multi-family housing. Two slender parallel bars, housing six apartments, are placed on either side of a passage with forecourts in the middle. Each bar includes a partially covered court, trees, and lightwells. Here, inhabitants can interact daily near their front doors and at the shaded courts that extend from their living rooms.

Modeled as a hypothetical Community Land Trust, Microplex counters gentrification, creates access to intergenerational wealth-building, keeps families together, and makes dignified aging-in-place possible. This flexibly planned and adaptable urban living prototype encourages a gradual evolution toward a more affordable and sociable city.

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Project Team: Mohamed Sharif and Todd Lynch with Chieh-Ting (JT) Chuang, Arthur Dos Santos, and Motomi Matsubara
www.shariflynch.com