DINGBAT 2.0 COMPETITION
Los Angeles, California
The Magic Carpet
The old Dingbat is dead. It has never been a great place to live, rather a place to pass time until something better comes along. It was born out of the desire to maximize the number of units per lot in the cheapest possible way.
Los Angeles real estate has always worked with culture of eradication in dealing with density. Single-family residences were replaced by duplexes, later by dingbats, by apartments and more recently by large monster apartment projects. As density increased, the quality of indoor-outdoor living has given way to the anonymous apartment box.
The old Dingbat was customized and hand crafted. While the lot sizes are standardized, each apartment building has taken its own customized approach to land use and code requirements.
Upper Level
Lower Level
THE NEW DINGBAT IS DIFFERENT:
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A modular prefabricated building system takes advantage of standard lot sizes and orientation.
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The Magic Carpet system allows each unit plenty of light, views and outdoor space. In addition, the elevated walkway system creates a sense of community and fosters chance meetings with other inhabitants.
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The weaving nature of the Magic Carpet system allows for plenty of light and air to penetrate through the system to reach the existing buildings below.
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Instead of eradicating the existing buildings on site, the Magic Carpet System provides a gently undulated, porous carpet of modular living units floating above the otherwise unaltered apartment buildings.
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Prefabrication of units allows for higher and more efficient production standards while eliminating most of the waste and noise associated with construction on site.
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The modular nature of the system allows for new units to be plugged into it or existing units to be expanded over time, as and when the need arises.
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Two of the existing apartment lots will be converted for infrastructure requirements. They will provide access to the Magic Carpet level via stairs and elevators. In addition, there will be two automated parking systems, providing one space per unit.
Once fully built out, the Magic Carpet System will add 90 more units to the block. If at a later stage, the existing buildings will be torn down, the space beneath the Magic Carpet System will act as a neighborhood public park.
THE UNITS
All vertical super-structure is placed on lot lines between the existing buildings at intervals of 50 feet. The individual arch-shaped base units are self-supporting structures from one gridline to the next. Alternating high and low points of the base units provide ample light penetration as well as views. The base unit generally houses a one-bedroom loft with kitchen dining on the lower and living and bedroom on the upper floor. Each unit has access to a generous roof terrace.
In addition to the base units, individual bedroom pods can be added either at ground or at upper level. These pods are plugged into the base unit and contain one or two additional bedrooms and bathrooms as required.
