Vista Village for Vista Del Mar
LOS ANGELES, CA
This project is a renovation of an existing family support center for Vista Village (formerly Home-SAFE Early Head Start), a division of Vista Del Mar Child & Family Services. The facility provides childcare, counseling, and parent education for underserved children in the Los Angeles and Hollywood areas. AUX’s design challenge was to create a unified design out of two vastly different adjoined buildings while staying within the very limited budget provided by a federal grant. The solution was to strip back the buildings to their purest forms and add a playful patterned screen that unites the two structures and provides protection and privacy to the enclosed outdoor playground area.
Project Category
Institutional
Status
2019
Client
Vista Del Mar Family & Child Services
Size
7,300 sq. ft.
In order to stretch the project funds, a perforated aluminum screen system was developed that makes use of material discarded from the two buildings. A gradient pattern was designed with the size and location of perforations based on the programmatic demands of the project. The entry and playground are more porous and well-lit with an arrangement of larger circles and a pattern of smaller circles occurs in areas that require more privacy. Featuring 31 metal panels and 369 circle cutouts, the collaboration breathes new life into a critical and vibrant service that stands out along busy Melrose Avenue.
The pattern is intended to be whimsical and energizing for the children as well as the unifying element for the project. The installation was a shared effort with fabricator Arktura, Vista Village facilities staff, and the entire AUX studio team as volunteers.
CREDITS
AUX Team: Brian Wickersham, Sean McCusker, Burcin Nalinci, Matthew Aulicino, Elizabeth Pritchett, Louie Bofill, Titus Dimson, Taylor Nunes, Juan Lau
Consultant Team: Arktura, Nous Engineering, South Coast Engineering, JHK Contractors
Photos: Charles White/JWPictures.com