Urban Wave
Personal Info
Name: Polina Stepanova
Nationality: Russian
Institution / Company: Columbia University in the City of New York
Instagram: @realpolya
Facebook: @realpolya
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/realpolya
-FINALIST of Non Architecture Award 2022 Competition | Category: Architecture & Interior
The Urban Wave project encompasses multiple functions one might seek in their daily life – and it strives to enhance the quality of life by enriching community nutrition with its locally-grown produce. Seventeen apartments. Community space adjunct to the vertical garden. Commercial area on the ground level. Urban Wave introduces vital greenery right in the middle of the concrete jungle known as Los Angeles. The project is located near South Central area, and it faces Exposition Boulevard. The mixed-use complex serves the purpose identified by a renowned local philanthropist and proponent of urban gardening Ron Finley – uniting nature and people.
The main aspiration of the Urban Wave project is to bridge the expanding gap we face in modern society – the gap between preventive health measures and overwhelming daily life. This affordable housing project allows residents and visitors to participate in cultivation of crops in interactive vertical garden. The community no longer needs to wonder where does it nutrition come from – the accessibility and interactiveness of the vertical communal garden becomes unparalleled. For many, this becomes the first opportunity to understand where the food on their plates comes from.
The project employs varying degrees of private and public providing many distinct types of outdoor spaces. From the street level experience and second-floor community garden to the private residential terraces, everyone can find a space to explore and experiment. Terraced roof serves as an ancillary space to ensure there is a median for the varying degrees of privacy.
Project Type
Mixed-use affordable housing building in Los Angeles
