Public Library / Community Center as a response to COVID-19 & Climate Change
This is the visual display of a study I did in 2020 during the height of the pandemic where I primarily focused on LEED and Biophilic Design principles as a response to the new demands to our built environments. Considering the close interrelationship between the health and environmental crises, and in close analysis to the specific needs and challenges of the greater Los Angeles area, this approach made great sense as a starting point to achieving healthier public spaces and a more circular relationship with them at the very heart of this high density location.
The premise is the adaptive reuse of an ex multi-store complex into a public library in the influential La Brea Av in the West Hollywood area. Making the most of its centrality while recognizing it as both a creatives hub and home to a large older-aged community where cost of living is exceptionally high, I worked on identifying the specific uses that would further what a public library can do for this community truly helping it to thrive in future circumstances and in a natural and holistic way.
From free creative-related amenities and wide-reaching, no cost community center services programs like legal aid and tech support for seniors to an on-site, urban farm sourced restaurant. Living Lab, above all, was intended to become a mixed-use public meeting space demonstrating replicable and cost-effective solutions for sustainable design. Additionally, Living Lab removes barriers to entry for highly sustainable projects while enhancing the neighborhood, its resident’s quality of life and the immediate as well as surrounding environments acting as a regenerative ecosystem and center for positive social impact.
LIVING
LAB
Overview.
Refining the aesthetic potential of Green Building
Embracing our ever-changing needs and likes as building occupants, our interior becomes a display of lightweight engineering for future proofing. In turn this results in material use reduction which aids the stresses of waste and overconsumption today.
A careful translation of designing for the future incorporated the attractive biophilic premise of resisting straight lines and right angles combined with the airiness and the quiet invitation to slightly slow down that shoji screens and closed curtains provide; a combination of the two emerged. With only curvilinear spaces and with different degrees of transparency depending on spatial needs, these automated systems (with manual overrides) create an inviting, user-friendly, interconnected experience in a building that feels bright and airy.
A round stairway, a winding reflective pool and a seating area are all located in the middle of the first floor to anchor the space and orient visitors.
Above all, this is a place of learning, but also -in the spirit of discovering what a modern-day library in Los Angeles wants and needs to be- it is a place to be. Whether it be to avoid the heat, to find more green, to have a free space for art work, as a place to meet or a place to rest, it is a space born from the diverse city it is in. Striving to acknowledge its challenges and quirks and by actively integrating sustainability and regenerative principles, Living Lab is created to protect Los Angeles’ natural resources, its own structural lifetime and ability to serve its community, and to bring wellness to different areas of our daily life - the people inside and around it- as a lifestyle and a lifeline.
“If we ask so much, too much of our bodies without sufficient regeneration how are we not gonna ask too much of our planet?”
― Laura Storm
Day & up lit planters behind recycled glass screens create visual interest
Corten steel pools hold water gardens throughout
Custom automated shoji screen system allows for natural light and ventilation
As a living building that exists to connect us to nature from inside the built environment, enticing and intriguing aesthetic moments in different ways like the continuous stylization of indoor plants placement behind different diffused glass techniques and different types of lighting, make the encounters with nature both enhanced and effortless. Nature and its processes are not only constant and diverse throughout the building, but stylized, perhaps poeticized, inviting us to appreciate, learn from them and subtly reminding us we are not separate from them.
Biophilic design then becomes a natural pillar of the interior choices. Design elements such as central focal point, natural shapes and forms, filtered and diffused light, botanical elements and age, change and the patina of time (indoor gardens, skylights, materials e.g: corten steel) and mystery, amongst many others, create a truly regenerative urban space.
The relaxing Periodicals Deck sits on a deck constructed over the reflective pool not far from the cafe. Inviting lounge seating lit by warm pendant lights, personal coat hangers and trendy reads create a true moment of pause.
1st Floor.
Palette + Materiality
Modern, eco-friendly and biophilic
Art Exhibit Plaza — Now showing: Massimo Uberti
The Root - vegan crêpe & tea bar
Indoor-outdoor blurring system for easy access & a sense of place
The Rooms
An open floor plan with complete or slightly veiled transparency into each room, greets us to the space.
“...buildings should be thought of having 6 layers, ranging from the site, which is timeless, to the skin and structure, which may last generations, to furnishings that are frequently changed...these layers are independent...The key lies in separating the layers so that less durable layers can be altered without interfering with one another.” —David Bergman, Sustainable Design a Critical Guide -intrigue /mystery in biophilia
The library capitalizes the existing structure, thereby greatly minimizing the amount of new structural elements. An ingenious system of climate zones preserves the openness of the building; heating visitors in key contact zones and not entire spaces. It was this mentality that made it possible to preserve the Living Lab building as one large usable volume, rather than inserting closed volumes or replacing it altogether.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more or maybe you have a creative project.
The star of the 1st floor is the indoors park. Infused with big trees, the water element of the reflective pool, natural light from a round skylight and natural breezes coming from both open ends of the building, it feels like outside. Surrounded by curved bookshelves, overlooked by the 2nd floors’ wide and curvilinear opening to another library space, it feels surreal and a little bit dreamy.
A grand textile screen enables flexible separation of areas and improves acoustics.
As a city known for its creative drive but also for its high cost of living, our library houses an open to the public, no-cost art studio where ‘messiness’ and experimentation are welcome. Tools provided are either lent for the day or rented at student price.
Glazed screens create a window-like dynamic when passing this room to go further into the building. Like all the other rooms, passer-byers or loungers at the Periodicals Deck can feel connected to this activity without taking part in it. And the mystery of art-in-the-making is maintained.
Additionally, the studio is a potential collaboration hub where just being around others with similar interests, often deemed unnecessary or perhaps a luxury, can be reassuring and energizing.
2” x 2” recycled glass tile in “forest green”
High ceilings and automated modularity provide an effortless immersion into the space as well as flowing natural air and light.
It is a sensorial interrelationship between space and activity: There is a nice cafe with indoor-outdoor seating offering great food and there is always a fun exhibition going on; A project that looks to brighten the city of Los Angeles.
Small and carefully patterned reflective luminaires protect occupant’s circadian rhythms by adapting to outdoor real-time conditions: from ‘rays of sunshine’ to star-like warm light, they even replicate real constellations
These screens can transform the park into a semi-private auditorium for events like ‘concerts in the park’, workshops or book readings; complete with suitable acoustics and lighting. Together with the plant-lined shoji screens and concrete floors, they enrich the existing spatial system.
The materials reveal their characteristic textures when viewed at close hand. During the day, abundant daylight creates intricate shadow patterns. After dark, the building is turned ‘inside out’ with the interior becoming an inviting beacon in the city.
Inspiration source: mur mur lab’s Dream Garden
In our first floor plan above we see how, while maintaining the street alignment, the lower part of the glass screen unfolds to allow the public space to extend within the building during opening hours. Besides the social unifying symbolic role, the large folding gate creates a porch roof for the building.
Toto water-saving sink system
The Living Lab restrooms are a display of sustainable practices from material choices to modernized botanical motifs, but especially an opportunity to see The Living Machine® -housed at the rooftop level- hard at work. The Living Machine®’s innovative construction reinforces all of the buildings water systems and its design by feeding the thriving, built-in planters and creating a small welcoming courtyard while surrounding the sinks in an out-in-the wild fashion and providing an extra layer of ‘natural’ privacy.
The appliances, like double flush sinks, efficient faucets and sink systems, as well as recycled glass mosaic and tiled walls and floors give a clean, straightforward look that in many ways functions as nature does.
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Fixtures throughout.
2nd Floor
Reading Nooks nested in green balconies
Visible indoor trees in façade view
A curtain in the study area creates a flexible space for workshops and specialized learning
Rooms / Areas
With a lower ceiling height yet with rows of grand half circled windows at the East, South and West sides of the building, this floor flows by replacing rooms with areas. This allows for a pleasant connection to outside maximizing natural resources like light and even views while a big curvilinear opening to the first and rooftop floors and two skylights, maintains a lively connection to what is happening inside.
There is a harmonious balance of spaces dedicated to learn and to rest, carefully placed throughout the space in order to maximize their intended functions and as if to say both activities are equally valuable and can be experienced in balance.
Under a third, round skylight is the library’s most private area. Creating a moment of quiet circular flow within the building, a series of round, sound-proof structures placed in a circle around a Moonglow Juniper bush courtyard, feel like a longer-term destination. With privacy and a beautiful view from both the courtyard it surrounds and a few trees enclosing it from the outside, a comforting nest-like feeling is achieved.
At the vanguard of sustainability and adding to the library’s modernist aesthetic, which hints to Los Angeles’ design roots, Marjan Van Aubel’s solar powered stained glass and work tables in her linear yellow design are sprinkled around the space for convenient device-charging. Their classic linear pattern effortlessly complement the stair railing and the curved windows vertical slats.
In a variety of muted grey and blue tones playfully placed in color degration order, this round-about like space is reminiscent of the water element present throughout Living Lab. The partly ribbed wraparound windows further convey this as a ripple effect further adding privacy and mystery to this memorable space.
Intended for the privacy of up to 2 occupants, one booth can hold a private meeting of up to 4 people.
Furniture & furnishings crafted with non-emitting materials —wood, concrete, metal
Eclipse chair by Atelier de Troupe
From structural to decorative, the curvilinear motif continues
Natural and recycled materials, responsible production and local sourcing are pivotal standards of the interior choices. Design pieces from up and coming and established local brands and a calm, modern palette comprise different sectors all throughout the multipurpose space.
“Designing with wellness in mind is to design spaces with intention that enable a better lifestyle. Consumer demand is driving the industry to the beginning of a shift in the way building is done, partly because of lifestyle and partly because of environmental and health crises around the world.”
―James Nozar, director of Habitat for Humanity and WELL-Certified Communities
Rest stations subtly take over the south side of the floor and the longest row windows in the building, as well as half of the West facing set. Wittily nestled in each window and making the most of their curved shape, each window becomes a custom oasis with an adjustable window nook system able to recline all the way to a bed. Commercial grade anti microbial cushions, throws and padding are freshened daily. A row of deciduous trees outside allows for restful views of the city through tree-shaded windows.
Responding to this very real threat that COVID 19 taught us, this room intends to be a learning hub, hold workshops and constant access to a new way of farming that is urban, accessible to people in even small apartments like most residents in L.A. This beautiful light also spreads around the second floor like something out of a sci-fi movie or just the future, making its beauty reel us in to practices that could very well be a key piece that allows us to have one.
“If we introduce more tools for the (urban) farmer to come, they will come because people want to know more, feel empowered and increasingly self-suffice. Within 30 years from now, the line between city dweller and farmer is blurred. Helped by ultra connected tools (such as apps) we will grow year round fresh, healthy vegetables at home.”
― Yuvan Noah Harari
The only permanently enclosed room on this floor aside from 2 offices and restrooms is a room dedicated to indoor edible plant growing known as ‘The Pink Room’ because of its pink LED growing light. A glass room that is perhaps one of the building’s signature design aspects with a curtain wall that especially stands out at night due to this strong pink light allowing views into the urban farm it grows.
The easy all-day visibility of this room is important as it is a testament to the possibilities and necessities of farming especially in the near future;
Only once people started to live in villages and towns and cities, crowded together, with all their animals, all their sewage systems, and garbage heaps, and connected to one one another with trade networks, did we begin to see devastating epidemics. So this is one of the main reasons why, for most people, the agricultural revolution made life worse and not better. “
— Yuvan Noah Harari ( NYT’s Bestseller “Sapiens - A brief History of Humankind”)
Curved openings for a comforting biophilic, cave-like experience also support circadian rhythms
South facing built-in curved window nooks. Deciduous trees in view provide shade
Built-in herbal planters carry soothing scents inside
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Rooftop
Comforting environments that feel secure and meet basic human psychology needs following the Prospect & Refuge Theory
Structures with high nature-connection are also inspired in botanical shapes e.g: Foodlab as a leaf
Topographically non-invasive 8 foot solar canopies
Inspired by the world’s largest urban farm on a rooftop; Ville Saint-Laurent in New York City
The Systems
L.A. local furniture brands Amigo (lounge chair),Form (dining chairs)
Amber colored solar panels visible at street level make up the Market’s canopy roof and add curb appeal
Living Lab is a living building with two sets of systems that allow it to exists as such; the systems in charge of its physical function as a regenerative structure, and those making up its social function of housing activities that create a movement in the community it serves and lead it into a prosperous direction.
From a physical standpoint, the Living Lab building’s vision is to help solve the planet’s energy and water challenges. Holding a Living Machine® system able to treat the totality of its waste water cycles, the library also uses it as a public learning tool. Thanks to its large solar canopies covering the Farmers Market and the landing roof, its energy needs surpass Net Zero by 17%. The remaining production is sold to the grid and used to fund the no-cost community aid programs held mainly at the Citizen Lab, e.g: LL’s Legal walk-in hours, TechAid for senior citizens, and educational initiatives in dedicated spaces at the rooftop, by the outdoor urban farm.
Two sizable and cutting-edge urban parks; one indoors and a second one outdoors at rooftop level, have a very high potential for carbon sequestration, hence functioning as a carbon sink to capture atmospheric CO2 and other GHG within the above-ground biomass and below-ground biomass.
Something about The Living Machine® system into dry planters
Rooftop Park with mature trees where occupants are welcome to lie on the grass or stroll through it helps reduce heat island effect
Always with the triple bottom line in mind, the library building serves this purpose in a 3 tiered manner; there is the environmental aspect the urban farm space addresses as one big farm can create many different microclimates and grow thousands of different varieties. By bringing production directly where people live and actually consume food, it saves more than 99% of energy on transportation, refrigeration, logistics and eliminating the huge waste that the current food system is suffering.
Nestled among the trees of the urban park, at the quieter side of the rooftop level is the Food Lab greenhouse.
This third stage or tier of Living Lab’s urban farming system looks to bring a positive social impact around access to healthy foods and nutrition awareness. The Food Lab holds several daily cooking classes and special events that address recipes, nutrition principles and the maximization of fresh foods as weekly food plans, crop seasonality and storage practices intended for the sustained access to a healthy diet.
A smaller garden space by the classroom provides some of the main ingredients of these dishes so students can truly have the “from farm to table” experience.
The glass room is an inviting fresh-from-the-farm cooking venue not only for its ample natural light and ventilation, but because from it you are able to see all of the rooftops greenery, especially the extensive urban farm. Inside is a friendly setup of counter space in rows with private cooking stations that still feel connected with one another. Great quality brands such as Wolf and Subzero provide technology and a small bookstore and reading space you can help yourself to and perhaps read somewhere shaded outside, with whole foods and farming focused reads.
The idea is to bring more equity into a space that can feel elitist at times, especially in an expensive city like Los Angeles, but which should truly be looked at as a basic human right.
A sense of community is created when meals are enjoyed in a group setting out in the long communal diner table under a covered terrace that peacefully overlooks the tall rooftop park trees against the city skyline.
While wastewater treatment is usually 'out of sight,' the system looks much like a large indoor garden and is placed on the rooftop as an onsite teaching tool. The system incorporates a series of wetland cells, or basins, that are filled with special gravel and plants.
To enhance The Living Machine®’s beauty it is placed inside a large geodesic dome at the entrance side of the building in La Brea Ave, becoming a landmark that can be seen for many miles away. Its retro-sci-fi-esque beauty not only complements the modernist aesthetic of the building’s facade but it creates expectation and curiosity to what is inside, intended to eventually create common knowledge of this valuable and cutting-edge technology.
Tall and lush tropical plants that grow well inside a conservatory setting give an even more wondrous feel like something of an Alice in Wonderland experience, complementing the innovative system that naturally looks like a set of well-vegetated ponds. The plants are labeled with their common and technical names as well as annual water needs.
As a social system, Living Lab utilizes The Living Machine® as an educational tool opening it up to the public with daily free tours.
As the social aspect of our we have The Food Lab. In is agreenhouse
“No one will protect what they don't care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”
― David Attenborough
From a social systems standpoint, the building intends to connect occupants to the processes of pressing urban issues as far as it can.
As a regenerative structure, the building takes on a holistic approach that looks to connect occupants to light, air, food, nature, and community
Continuing with the idea of maximizing what a public building can do as a response to current-day farming practices causing further and potentially irreversible environmental stress in our natural ecosystem, one of Living Lab’s missions is to have cities become self-sufficient in the food-production.
“Ecological Agriculture is the only way to not just mitigate the impact on the climate but also to adapt to it. This return to the land starts in big cities where, in 2050, ¾ of us will live. The farm of the future is in the city and we’ll need to maximize our urban farms: Every rooftop, every terrace, every city park, every school yard, church yard, becomes a potential supplier of food.”
— Press Release by Ville Saint-Laurent (2020) – world's biggest rooftop farm
Occupants can sign up for the seasonal urban farming training program with the only requirement of purchasing their own seeds. Aside from hands-on and climate-specific learning, participants are taught the economics around urban farming either in a general household level to create a basic economy of self-sustenance around food or as a commercial venture such as farmer’s market participation.
Participants are welcome to try this small business venture by selling their crops at the on-site Farmer’s Market along with the library-owned harvest, which helps support this program, along with other local urban farms around L.A.
