Inventive Dimensions: Architects Design Multifamily LA Housing With A Custom CNC Cut Perforated Aluminum Façade

Los Angeles has an abundance of single-family homes. Although gaining more momentum, its multi-family residential properties are not as prominent. The problem of course being space, the ability to fit these developments into “awkward spatial contexts,” as Sam Lubell of Metropolis Magazine describes.

Photography Courtesy Harrison Steinbuch via METROPOLIS

Yet the Elysian Fields apartment building, situated between an auto body shop and the Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Projects gallery, fits perfectly within this bustling modern city. The unique structure, designed by Warren Techentin Architecture (WTARCH), sits around a communal courtyard and features four unique facades. Four facades of the building that as editors at Metropolis explain, “Together they break down the building’s mass and channel the exuberant urban cacophony that Angelenos love and others don’t always understand.”

Photography Courtesy Harrison Steinbuch via METROPOLIS

The architect’s purposeful design takes cues from its surroundings and considers the structure a “village” composed of four buildings. Inspired by the autobody shop, and built by local fabricator Arktura, one façade is composed of a CNC-cut perforated aluminum screen. The screen offers a sunshade to mellow the harsh influx of natural light that penetrates that portion of the façade.

Each side, a different composition, to the north is black with punctuated pink cruciform patterns, the south features a cedar screen and bright yellow paint, while the east is pure white, mimicking the morning sun.

Photography Courtesy Harrison Steinbuch via METROPOLIS

Like the façade, the 27-unit apartment complex is diverse, with no two the same in layout or materials. Principal Techentin explains, “When we presented the building, people here really got it. They saw it as in keeping with the neighborhood’s modern and eclectic character.”

Photography Courtesy Harrison Steinbuch via METROPOLIS

DISCLAIMER: CEI Materials did NOT fabricate this project. Inventive Dimensions showcases projects from around the world that exhibit extraordinary three-dimensional designs.