This is a preliminary study for a mixed-use transit-oriented development in Southern California.
Situated just east of the Pacific Ocean and north of the city's Design District, this project makes reference to the form language and structural logic of the neighboring contiguous, elevated metal Quonset hut warehouses. The new development is intended to be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, while also taking some formal and material cues from adjacent AMTRAK train station designed by Rob Wellington Quigley. The proposed two level retail-restaurant development will provide a near and long-term parking solution for local and regional train and transit users while creating a new leisure and culture destination. The program includes: retail stores, a signature restaurant, a brewery and cafe, and transit user parking.
Given the project’s liminal position between major arteries, the architecture of this transit oriented development is imagined as a serial and repetitive structure that has been deformed and customized. The end result is should produce a set of incidental and peculiar spatial sequences and overlapping programmatic instances that will culture-jam the functional purpose of infrastructure, inserting new informal social programs and spaces.