Event Description

Low Rise, Mid Rise, High Rise: Housing in L.A. Today, an in-person, pop-up exhibition + talk of residential buildings in the pipeline

Join a public viewing and conversation at "Low Rise, Mid Rise, High Rise: Housing in L.A. Today," an in-person, pop-up exhibition of residential buildings in the pipeline taking place at the Helms Design Center on June 19th. The exhibition will remain open to the public through June 27th from 12 to 4 pm daily and by Appointment Only until July 1st.

For the past year, architects and builders have been busy, working on designs to address L.A.’s biggest need: Housing. And they are doing so in multi-unit buildings, at multiple scales, that advance the idea of home.

30+ design teams will display Low Rise dwellings from ADUs to four-story multifamily dwellings; Mid Rise affordable and market rate housing on transit corridors; High Rise towers for downtown, Hollywood and the Miracle Mile.  The show is presented by Helms Bakery District in partnership with Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo LA Metro Program. It is organized by Frances Anderton and Stephen Phillips (Director, Cal Poly LA Metro).

Much of the public dialogue around housing in Los Angeles today has to do with the politics around it, and the crisis of homelessness. But while these debates continue, housing is being built, in a patchwork of starkly different scales and styles. It is shaped in part by zoning, code, and parking requirements, costly land, construction and materials, as well as competing development and neighborhood pressures. Yet despite this web of constraints, designers are building on the tradition of innovative SoCal living.

At Low Rise, Mid Rise, High Rise: Housing in L.A. Today visitors will see dense, high, multi-unit housing with apartments filled with natural light, flowing space and a taste of the outside. Projects will demonstrate planning for sociability, as well as new material and structural solutions to housing affordability. They will show how new developments can still express the distinct and eclectic Los Angeles character. Finally, visitors will see how the pandemic may have altered planning priorities in the homes of tomorrow. The exhibition will feature models and renderings of projects in design or under construction. Displayed alongside these real-world schemes will be an exhibition of designs by Cal Poly LA Metro students.

In conjunction with the pop-up, there will be public conversations exploring what these buildings say about how we live in Los Angeles today. Speakers include Angela Brooks, Brooks Scarpa; Barbara Bestor Bestor Architecture; Ben Warwas, Byben and co-host, Rad Bad and Sad; Eric Owen Moss, Eric Owen Moss Architects; Farooq Ameen, City Design Studio; Larry Scarpa, Brooks Scarpa; Li Wen, Gensler; Natalia Dobrynina, Mighty Buildings; Pariya Mohammaditabar, City Design Studio; Steve Glenn, Plant Prefab and more!