Gentle density with room to grow

For a competition imagining new housing on tight infill lots in Northeast LA, we looked to the past to design for the future. Inspired by the old-school bungalow court, this project retools the model for contemporary needs—more density, more flexibility, still human.

Two primary homes and two ADUs shape a pair of shared garden courts—spaces that serve as soft thresholds, social zones, and climate buffers. Each ADU is designed to grow over time into a full-fledged house, allowing the site to eventually split into three lots, each with its own coherent, complete home.

It’s a replicable playbook for thoughtful infill: scalable, adaptable, and rooted in LA’s DNA.