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Residential Construction
Case Study
Architect: Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects Location: Los Angeles
The complex’s massing consists of two long, roughly parallel bars that split at the street frontages on both ends to create entry plazas. These spaces lead to open-air stairs and corridors clad in a bright white finish that contrasts with the striking dark Metal Sales wall panels covering the building’s outward-facing sides. Perforated screens punctuate the street-facing elevations, animating them and giving passersby a look inside. The bifurcated massing brings light and air deep into the building. Cross ventilation, building orientation, and daylighting were key considerations in the project’s sustainability strategy. To take advantage of the site’s temperate climate, LOHA’s design integrates open communal spaces into the dense urban development. Stepped shared terraces are carved out from the building’s central pinch point, a strategy mirrored on the building’s north elevation. Punched balconies on the building’s long sides provide further outdoor amenities to individual units. Los Angeles, O’Herlihy noted, is densifying, resulting in an “inevitable conflict between multiunit housing and houses.” By incorporating elements like intimate green spaces and terraced hillsides and plazas, all prevalent in the surrounding lower-density neighborhood, Dillon617 endeavors to show how multifamily housing can ameliorate L.A.’s housing challenges while remaining sensitive to context. Amrita Raja
Dillon617 Landscape design: Stephen Billings Landscape Architecture Civil and MEP engineering: SY Lee Associates Structural engineering: John Labib and Associates Shore engineering: Cefali & Associates Metal panel cladding: Metal Sales Weather barrier: DuPont Tyvek Windows and doors: Milgard Flooring: DTC Flooring Elevator: Kone Signage: Fusion Signs Window shades: Clutch-Operated FlexShade Smoke door: Smoke Guard Systems Planters: Old Town Fiberglass Planters Bike racks: Dero Ultra Space Saver Dillon617 is a 49-unit residential development located on a narrow infill lot in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Designed by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA), the scheme reinterprets the midcentury “missing middle” bungalows typical of the area to develop a new, denser, multifamily missing-middle typology. “The opportunity to reinvigorate commercial arteries with housing represents a new paradigm for Los Angeles,” said Lorcan O’Herlihy, LOHA’s founder and design principal. This in turn makes for a “more robust and inclusive city.”
The Architect’s Newspaper
PAUL VU
Left: Bright white finishes in interior courtyard spaces contrast with dark Metal Sales panels on the outward-facing sides. PAUL VU
Above: Perforated screens give passersby a look inside the complex. Below: Setbacks create private balconies and let in light.
LOHA