Formosa 1140

The Los Angeles region is notorious for its lack of urban public space; LOHA’s design for Formosa1140 addresses this condition by radically parceling out a third of its privately-owned building site as a publicly-managed pocket park for the City of West Hollywood. Formosa1140 simultaneously creates density and green space and models a replicable prototype for incremental community-driven city development.

In West Hollywood, the need for parks is dire: the city of 1% park allocation is saturated with housing, 90% of which comprises multi-family residences. At the time of Formosa1140’s initiation, West Hollywood provided two public parks to its community.

By pushing the housing volume to one side of the building lot, LOHA provides each residential unit with park frontage. Its facade is then achieved through a unique choreography of perforated metal sheathing and fenestration.

All of the units are duplexes and most have a “flex” room on the lower floor that can serve as either a study or a third bedroom. (Units facing the street are a bit smaller and have just two bedrooms.) A simple palette of colors (mostly white with orange or red accents) and few partitions (only a curtain separates the master bedroom from its bathroom, for example) make the apartments feel open and contemporary.