DIVERGENT sits on a deep, rectangular site across from the Silverlake Reservoir, its long sides only diverging by a mere five degrees. Initially formed from a series of cubes arranged parallel to the site at varying heights, each one rotated five degrees further toward the back of the site than the previously generated one, volume accumulates through a connective logic that produces a tread-like object. When this process is repeated on the “divergent” side of the site, the rotational cubes slide west, and a divergent angle appears. Combined, the forms create a long, narrow, and bulky band of jangling rooms and planar connections with a distinct void between stories. This hole which results from the combination of two treads turns the notion of the quiet, insular and walled domesticity of the central city single family residence literally on its side--the hole, as both a circulatory element and source of light, air, and access to the natural beauty of the site, fulfills the most basic environmental roles of the light well while challenging the walled privacy of the Mediterranean courtyard and creating an intermediary exterior level to the house. The hole operates as a sort of contradiction of access, which no clear entry into the house, but only one clear way into the project.

34.096973, -118.260805

Los Angeles, CA 90039

Single-family residence in central city location

Silverlake Reservoir-adjacent

3000 SF / 3 bed, 2.5 bath