Los Angeles
Lehrer Architects

Photography © Ronald Moore + Associates/Orrin Moore

An inner-city structure builds community and rebuilds lives

"Often these centers are just a roof. They don't have the emotional power of architecture, but this one really does." —Rand Elliott, FAIA Architect Lehrer Architects www.lehrerarchitects.com Client SRO Housing Corporation Key players Reiss, Brown, Ekmekji (structural); Ideas for the Built Environment (mechanical); Agoura Electric Company (electrical); Mia Lehrer + Associates (landscape); Robert F. Vairo Construction (general contractor)

Program: Located in Los Angeles's Skid Row, this community center aimed to use architecture as a tool for civic and social betterment. The client firmly believes that everyone, no matter what their circumstances, is entitled to a safe, clean, well-designed space. An earlier collaboration between the architect and client resulted in a successful homeless drop-in center and park. However, with nearly 1,400 homeless people visiting daily, the need for an interior community space quickly became evident.

Solution: Regarded as a "living room" for Skid Row, the project serves as a safe harbor, aiding the recovery of addicts and providing for the homeless community at large. The building is sited at the edge of the park, welcoming the neighborhood inside with its prominent staircase, and presenting an air of civic grandeur with its 40-foot-high colonnade. The interior spaces are flooded with light. The building's meeting room, office space, and rooftop garden accommodate weekly meetings of seniors, 12-step recovery programs, art workshops, chess clubs, poetry readings, and biweekly health examinations. Using color and light, civic style, and humane scale, the architect and client prove that architecture can empower and build community where there was none.

For more images please see the November 2004 issue or Architectural Record.
Subscribe to Architectural Record in print, or get Architectural Record digitally

Browse the Projects

The Winners: Limerick County Hall | Britomart Transport Centre | Ehime Prefectural Budokan | Humane Society/SPCA of San Antonio and Bexar County | James M. Wood Comm. Cntr. | Finn Center, Community School of Music and Arts | Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center | MoMA QNS | Iron Studio, Penland School | Israeli Foreign Ministry

The Finalists: Quintessa Winery | FDNY Fire Zone | University Health Network/ Toronto Hospita | General Mills, World Headquarters | Hotel Monaco (Tariff Building) | Marion Oliver McCaw Hall | Ford Rouge Center | San Francisco Ferry Building | Brentwood Skytrain Station

Editors' Choice: Satellite Operations Facility & Administrative Offices | Montclair Lofts

ADVERTISEMENT