BROADCLOTH COMMUNITY CENTER

Broadcloth Community Center is part of a semester-long comprehensive studio. The site is an existing early 20th century department building in LA’s fashion district. The design engages the surrounding context of the district as a hub of textile refinement and production. The primary feature is a massive canopy gesture which sweeps with 13 fabric like ribbons across the entire site, with the aim to shield the space from the harsh LA sun, activating it solely by shading the area and continuing under the existing structure to activate the entry. As a comprehensive studio students were tasked with developing a design which accounted for environmental conditions (wind, sunlight and vegetation) egress, HVAC, and a host of other factors architects must juggle. Additionally, consulting with well established structural engineers and a course in material sciences helped inform wall assembly details and approximate structural sizing for truss members. These were modeled using Rhino and Grasshopper software plugins including Kangaroo, Ladybug and Lunchbox.