GAF L17 New Carver Lomo 10
New Carver Apartments, Michael Maltzen Architecture, 2009.  

Nearly a mile from the heart of Skid Row, the project’s 97 units provide permanent housing for formerly homeless elderly and disabled residents, a place for solace, support, and individual growth in the face of the city’s chronic homeless problem. By incorporating communal spaces– kitchens, dining areas, gathering spaces and gardens –into the Carver’s raised form, as well as medical and social services support facilities into the plinth beneath, the project encourages its residents to reconnect with each other and the city beyond.

The Carver’s six-story circular form emerges from the path of the Santa Monica Freeway as it traces the site’s southern edge, its spiraling shape defining a private outdoor courtyard at the building’s center which provides each unit with natural lighting and views in all directions. Confronted with a significant level of ambient noise from passing automobiles, the form creates a sound buffer by minimizing the building’s area directly opposite the freeway; smaller-scale facets position unit windows perpendicular to the direction of sound, further shielding the units themselves. The façade underscores the relationship between the building and the freeway, creating a subtle pattern of light and shadow further animated by the illumination of passing cars.  As automobiles pass from east to west, the building’s façade transforms itself as its sawtooth facets open to view.  
-mmaltzen.com  

GAF L17 M42 SLR with the Vivitar 20mm f/3.8 lens on Lomography 400 35mm film.
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