Postal Units

Design Team: Michael Frederick | Advisors: Olivier Touraine

Venice, California: 2009
The triangular territory located on the Venice circle is typical 70’s 80’s urbanism. The canal was filled to address the mosquitoes infestation and in its place a wide boulevard was developed offering move convenient automobile access to the beach. The land at the center of this boulevard became a garage and storage for the post office literally two minutes from the beach. Recognizing this to not be the lands best use the project proposes construction of housing and activity space to replace the dilapidated post office building. The housing project shelters a mix of market and affordable units, stepping up from East to West. This offers a gentle connection to the residential neighborhood and a denser response to the higher Western side. The triangular shape of the lot necessitated a V plan for the building. The “back” or West side of the V will be allocated to the local community taking the form of a playground and public park. Slid under this program the ground level will shelter office and live-work spaces. A cascade of exterior stairs on the South and North side of the building will offer a filter for glares, heat gain and noise coming from Grant Avenue. Finally underground parking provides the necessary quantity of cars per unit while minimizing the visual impact.