Shelter Archives

Kadre Architects converts Los Angeles motel into homeless shelter

California studio Kadre Architects has used bold graphics and vibrant colours to transform a dilapidated motel into The Alvarado, which offers beds for families experiencing homelessness.

Designed by local firm Kadre Architects, the adaptive reuse project involved converting a 20,000-square-foot (1,858-square-metre) motel built in 1984 into a shelter for families transitioning out of homelessness in LA’s Westlake neighbourhood, one block north of MacArthur Park.

Exterior of the The Alvarado homeless shelter in LA with a graphic blue and white-painted facade — Kadre Architects transformed a former motel into a homeless shelter

The Alvarado project was led by Los Angeles County and its nonprofit partner, Hope the Mission. It was designed and completed in eight months.

The four-storey building contains 43 units with a total of 172 beds, along with support spaces and offices.

The Alvarado project was led by Los Angeles County and its nonprofit partner, Hope the Mission. It was designed and completed in eight months.

The four-storey building contains 43 units with a total of 172 beds, along with support spaces and offices.

Interior corridor with green and white glossy walls — Bold colours feature throughout the building

The majority of tenants are single mothers and children. The project is part of the state of California’s Project Homekey initiative, which provides funding for local governments to rapidly create housing for the homeless.

Working on a limited budget, the architects opted to use bold colours and graphics to bring “new life to the blighted building”.

The entrance facade formerly had a pale green colour and Italianate-style detailing. The team replaced it with a blue-and-white graphic that spells out “Hope”.

“Paint goes a long way when budgets are low, and the welcoming graphic greets each resident with an inspiring message, creating a sense of belonging and dignity,” the team said.

Graphics in hues such as yellow, purple and green are also found indoors, providing a sense of “moving through a colourful composition”.

Yellow and white interior with yellow shelving along the wall and a wall-mounted TV — The shelter contains space for 172 beds, offices and support spaces

“[We] used the palette to enliven spaces and bring about a sense of ownership, with each floor having its own graphic identity throughout each of the rooms, floors, walls and furnishings – like one’s own neighborhood,” the team said.

The ground level holds a covered gathering area and support spaces. The upper three levels encompass the living units, each of which has bunk beds, a bathroom, a microwave and small refrigerator. The units average 280 square feet (26 square metres).

Interior corridor with purple and white glossy walls — The building was originally built in 1984

An outdoor area has been transformed into a dining deck for tenants, who are provided three meals each day.

The project has a number of sustainable features, including drought-tolerant landscaping and a white-painted roof that helps reduce heat gain. A photovoltaic array meets about half of the building’s energy needs.

Large open venue space with a white, yellow and black graphic design on the walls and floor — A gathering space is located on the ground floor

“Collaborating closely with the contractors and specialty consultants, the architects were able to eliminate fossil fuels completely and switch the entire building to electric power, in-step with the goals of the California Energy Commission,” the team said.

The project marks the first of three designed by Kadre Architects and Hope the Mission. The other two are slated to open later this year.

Green and white interior with green shelving along the wall and a wall-mounted TV — It forms part of California’s Project Homekey initiative

They are all part of the state’s Project Homekey initiative, which aims to address California’s escalating homelessness crisis. In 2022, there were over 171,000 homeless people in the state. About 30 per cent of the nation’s homeless population lives in California, according to a federal government report.

The founder of Kadre Architects, Nerin Kadribegovic, is a third-generation architect who has experienced “chaotic social and environmental disruption” due to being a refugee of the wars in Yugoslavia and Bosnia.

His refugee experience ignited his interest in addressing complex urban problems like homelessness.

“This awareness evokes deep empathic connection to critical issues facing metropolitan urban centers around the world,” said his studio.

Prior to launching Kadre, Nerin was a partner at the LA-based studio Lehrer Architects, which has designed a number of housing projects for the homeless in Los Angeles. These include an apartment complex in the Willowbrook neighbourhood with shared patios and splashes of yellow, and a tiny home village on a narrow plot in North Hollywood.

The photography is by Nerin Kadribegovic.

Reference

Architecture

Paire House by Rodolfo Cañas provides shelter for a Chilean family

By Zarkon Group,13/05/2023

The tale of Jonah and the Whale informed the design of this house in Chile, which architect Rodolfo Cañas shaped around two gardens.

In the rural town of Pomaire, less than an hour southwest of Santiago, Cañas designed the single-family home to shelter its inhabitants from the elements and the surroundings.

Paire House and rural surroundings viewed from above — Viewed from above, the Paire House looks like an abstract body with limbs that stick out in different directions

The architect likened the shielding quality of the house to the whale that swallowed the prophet Jonah in the biblical story.

“In some ways, the Paire House can be comparable to the whale that protected Jonah during the storm,” said the architect. “In a rural, dry, rugged environment and also close to a highway with a heavy traffic flow, this house works as a container; a protective body, which separates its inhabitants from the hostile environment and makes them look towards a more sheltered interior.”

Entrance through a garden under a canopy — Entry to the home is via a shaded garden

Viewed from above, the house is shaped like an abstract human body with four limbs that protrude at different angles.

Two parallel circulation routes – one public and one private – and a desire to orient rooms towards specific views dictated this unusual layout.

Living room opens on to enclosed garden — A second enclosed garden sits at the centre of the house

Entrance to the property is via a garden to the north, which is shaded by a canopy and landscaped to funnel visitors towards one gate, and the residents to another.

“This forms the cut between the rugged exterior and the sheltered interior of the house,” said Cañas. “It is a covered garden and considers a more controlled natural lighting in order to generate the cut coming from the outside.”

Kitchen and dining room — An open-plan kitchen, dining room and lounge occupies one of the building’s “legs”

The “body” of the house contains a row of four bedrooms that all face an enclosed garden through floor-to-ceiling glass doors.

Guests pass through the garden on their way to the living spaces, while the family can traverse an interior corridor that passes behind the bedrooms.

Bedrooms facing onto garden — Bedrooms face the central garden through floor-to-ceiling glass doors

Light is brought into this passageway via a skylight that protrudes at an angle above the low roofline.

Overlooking the central garden, an open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge area occupies the building’s southwest “leg”.

The primary suite is located in the other, facing southeast. Both open onto terraces that face carefully chosen views of trees in the foreground and hills in the distance.

“The trees are a little misleading when you’re inside, hinting that the outside is wooded and less hostile than it really is,” Cañas explained. “Meanwhile, the nearby hills speak of the real context: a wild and dry environment.”

Paire House at dusk — The home’s layout was dictated by a desire to orient rooms towards particular views

Off the central outdoor space, close to the entry, is another small appendage that contains a games room.

Largely devoid of windows, the exterior walls and internal gardens are wrapped in blackened wood, while interior spaces are minimally decorated and furnished.

Charred timber appears to be a popular choice of cladding material for Chilean houses.

Other examples of its use in the country include a home sheathed entirely in blackened pine, an angular mountain cabin and a beach residence comprising stacked volumes.

The photography is by Aryeh Kornfeld.

Project credits:

Architect: Rodolfo Cañas
Builder: Mauricio Fuenzalida
Drawings: Samuel Riveros

Reference

Sustainable News

The Relic Shelter | Fuzhou Teahouse // Neri & Hu

By Zarkon Group,12/08/2022

Text description provided by the architects.

The project draws inspiration from imagery uniquely associated with Fuzhou: the Jinshan Temple. This is a rare example of a temple structure built in the middle of a river in China. John Thomson was one of the first photographers ever to travel to the country and provided Western audiences with some of the first glimpses into the Far East.

In the album Foochow and the River Min, which documented his legendary journey up the Min River, Thomson captured the ancient structure in its original state resting serenely above a floating rock in 1871. This would become a lasting image unmistakably identified with the city of Fuzhou.
Conceived as an urban artefact and drawing from the historical roots of the city of Fuzhou, the Relic Shelter internalizes a piece of distinct heritage at a time when rapid new development has eroded traditional culture and identity.

The client’s brief posed the unique challenge of creating an enclosure for a Chinese artefact – the wooden structure of a high-ranking Qing dynasty official’s residence, replete with ornamental carvings and intricate joinery. Relocated from Anhui to its new home in Fuzhou, the Hui-style structure is enshrined as the inhabitable centrepiece of a new teahouse.
Envisioned as a house atop a rock, the teahouse is elevated above a rammed concrete base, while its sweeping copper roof echoes the roofline of the enclosed architectural relic.

Its core material, rammed concrete, is a modern homage to the traditional earthen dwellings of the region, emphasizing a raw monumentality. Visitors are presented with two images of the building upon approach: the upright silhouette of the form, and its mirrored reflection duplicated in the surrounding pool of water.
A series of contrasts plays out among elements that are bright and dark, light and heavy, coarse and refined, as visitors enter the grand hall where the structure of the ancient residence is situated.

Sky wells penetrate the roof, bringing natural light into the depths of the enclosure and illuminating the priceless artefact on display. Only upon reaching the mezzanine does the structural configuration of the building begin to reveal itself. The hovering metal roof is lifted 50 cm off the solid base by copper-clad trusses to introduce a sliver of continuous illumination around its periphery.

Wrapping itself around the historical wooden structure, the mezzanine space allows visitors to appreciate intricate carpentry details at eye level.
The basement level includes a secondary arrival lobby housing a rotunda, a sunken courtyard and tasting rooms. At the top of the rotunda, a carved oculus capped by glass is submerged beneath the pool in the courtyard above.

It filters the sun through a thin film of water, creating a mesmerizing play of reflections..

The Relic Shelter | Fuzhou Teahouse Gallery

Reference

Shelter

Kadre Architects converts Los Angeles motel into homeless shelter

Paire House by Rodolfo Cañas provides shelter for a Chilean family

The Relic Shelter | Fuzhou Teahouse // Neri & Hu

The Relic Shelter | Fuzhou Teahouse Gallery

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