Design Challenge
Uncertainty in environment, employment, policy, social infrastructure, and many other aspects of life are impacting the ways people choose to live. The migrant worker community is especially impacted by this. While globalization changes the way we see temporary or migrant work and increasingly involves citizens in fluctuating employment, slow planning processes as well as architecture and development proclivities towards stable and permanent development have done little to help these temporal and migratory individuals.
I have chosen to look at one community in particular: the residents of LAX's Parking Lot B. A combination of abundant space and a fiercely independent culture has resulted in many employees creating an informal settlement that LAX eventually permitted. However, with plans to redevelop the parking lot for other uses, no permanent changes can be made. With over 20,000 vacant lots awaiting new uses, according to the open source LA Open Acres project (https://laopenacres.org/), a model for temporarily and legally using these spaces could alleviate housing need without obstructing future development. I have developed such a system for Parking Lot B by reusing and altering found objects to use as plug-in infrastructure.
Site
Parking Lot B, LAX - Screenshot from "Long Term Parking" by Lance Oppenheim
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/opinion/long-term-parking.html?_r=0
Google Maps Earth View of Site - 33°56'08.6"N 118°22'32.5"W
Demographics: home to about 100 - captains, first officers, mechanics, flight attendants, support staff, air cargo employees, etc.; 10 person waiting list; mostly men, many divorced, and several married couples.
Reasons to choose Parking Lot B: low rent ($60 per month), low maintenance, convenient (no commute), traditional housing doesn’t fit lifestyle temporary (soon to retire), worry free (minimal possessions to leave behind while travelling).
Source: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/20/local/me-lax-colony20
Unit
Side Opening Shipping Container (20’ x 8’ x 9.5’) - Shipping Containers Essex
Source: http://shippingcontainersessex.com/other-container-sales
Advantages: reusable with multi-user lifespan, easy to relocate, durable (relatively theft- and damage- proof when closed), standard in size and therefore easy to fit with plug-in parts.
Adaptation
Closed
Plan - closed
Plug-in Infrastructure - power and wet wall
Plan - expanded
Living space is nearly doubled and modular furniture accommodates new program
Hard shell and flexible canvas
Implementation - Housing as Tactical Urbanism
Plan for 108 units (8 more than current RV arrangement) with shared space, parking, and infrastructure
Infrastructure (pink pipes from Berlin) includes planters (parklets) to prevent damage and bring green human-scaled elements into expansive parking lot
