Jordan Downs

Client: Bridge Housing

Location: South Los Angeles (Watts), California

User: Low Income Families

Design facts: The project is meant to create a vibrant urban village. Fully built, it will be comprised of at least 710 new apartments and town homes, 9 acres of green space, and a community center. There will also be a grocery store and shops and restaurants on Alameda Street and Century Boulevard, which will be extended by a half-mile to connect Jordan Downs to the rest of the neighborhood.

Story to tell: Built for factory workers during WWII, The existing Jordan Downs was converted to low-income housing in the 1950s. It weathered the crack cocaine epidemic and gang warfare that decimated South LA but has been neglected for years. Today, it’s almost barren of landscaping, an island of dilapidated stucco buildings separated from the rest of Watts–With the future development proposed this bleak present statewill be transformed into vibrant homesripe for establishing a sense of community and hope