Isla Intersections Supportive Housing and Paseo by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects

Isla Intersections Supportive Housing and Paseo stands as a powerful example of how architecture can bring dignity, wellness, and community life to an extremely difficult urban site. Developed by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA) in collaboration with the non-profit Holos Communities, the project occupies a 19,814-square-foot triangular plot situated near one of the world’s busiest freeway interchanges—the meeting of Los Angeles’ 110 and 105 freeways. This location, long neglected due to traffic congestion, pollution, and irregular boundaries, now hosts a 35,000-square-foot, 54-unit affordable housing community designed specifically for residents transitioning out of homelessness.

The site is part of the City of Los Angeles’ initiative to transform more than 1,700 city-owned parcels into affordable housing. Many of these parcels pose immense design and environmental challenges. Isla Intersections rises as a model demonstrating how creative architecture can overcome these limitations and turn unused land into community infrastructure.

Modular Construction as a Tool for Sustainability and Efficiency

A defining feature of Isla Intersections is its modular construction system. LOHA organizes the building as a series of sixteen staggered modular boxes, each crafted from three 20-foot-long recycled steel containers. Welded together, each cluster forms a compact 480-square-foot residential studio equipped with an ADA-compliant kitchen, accessible bathroom, open-plan living area, and private bedroom.

This modular strategy speeds up construction, reduces waste, and ensures high-quality fabrication. More importantly, the containers become architectural building blocks that stack into two- to five-story towers, creating a rhythmic skyline along Broadway Street. These modular volumes are connected by elevated walkways, encouraging residents to move through shared spaces rather than isolating themselves in enclosed corridors.

The building mass gently steps down toward the northern edge to align with the scale of the neighboring single-family residential area. This transition softens the development’s presence and helps integrate the project into its context rather than overwhelming it.

A Landscape-Driven Approach to Community Building

Isla Intersections is designed around the concept of a “living communal landscape.” Instead of occupying the site with a large monolithic structure, LOHA places the modular towers along the perimeter of the triangular plot, opening up a series of interconnected pocket parks and landscaped courtyards at the center. These semi-private open spaces provide areas for residents to relax, garden, exercise, and socialize.

Natural light penetrates deeply into the complex thanks to the spacing between towers. The sawtooth configuration of the units forms niches at each entry door, creating personal thresholds that residents can personalize with plants, doormats, or decorative items—small gestures that enhance dignity and belonging. This human-scaled approach transforms the development into a vibrant micro-neighborhood rather than a dense institutional complex.

The landscape plays an essential health-related role as well. Given the proximity to multiple freeways, the project integrates air-filtering plant species that help absorb pollutants and mitigate particulate matter. This approach transforms the courtyard into a natural buffer, improving air quality and supporting mental and physical well-being.

The Paseo: A New Pedestrian Realm and Community Connector

One of the project’s most distinctive features is the Annenberg Paseo, a newly created public pedestrian corridor that runs along the western edge of the property between the housing complex and the freeway infrastructure. Designed as a slow-space, the paseo prioritizes walkers and cyclists, introducing a much-needed green artery in an area dominated by traffic.

This linear park connects the building to the broader neighborhood and supports street-level activity through retail spaces, community-support offices, job training facilities, and incubator storefronts. These functions encourage residents to engage with the community and offer opportunities for workforce development, skill-building, and economic mobility.

The paseo’s planting palette is hyper-local and resilient, chosen for its capacity to handle pollution while adding shading, cooling, and seasonal color. In addition, rooftop gardens and edible planting beds support an on-site farming program, contributing produce to weekly markets and helping address the chronic food-access difficulties in South Los Angeles.

A Catalyst for Urban Agriculture and Community Resilience

The commitment to urban farming places Isla Intersections within a broader regional movement to preserve agricultural practices in South LA. Just one mile away lies the celebrated Stanford Avalon Community Garden, a nine-acre parcel saved by local advocacy. Isla Intersections seeks to strengthen this legacy by incorporating on-site urban agriculture, using rooftop farms and edible gardens to supply small-scale markets and teach residents about growing food.

This focus on sustainability extends to the building’s construction and operation. The recycled modular steel frames, the emphasis on natural ventilation and daylight, and the creation of plant-filled landscapes all contribute to a reduced carbon footprint and a more regenerative urban environment.

A Model for Supportive Housing in Urban Los Angeles

Isla Intersections demonstrates that supportive housing can be architecturally ambitious, environmentally conscious, and socially impactful, even on one of the most challenging parcels in Los Angeles. By uniting modular construction, restorative landscape design, and community-oriented programming, LOHA has created a housing environment that supports stability, rehabilitation, and dignity.

The development stands as an inspiring blueprint for how cities can transform leftover, infrastructurally constrained land into places of opportunity—and how design can directly improve human lives, even in the shadows of freeways.

Photography: Eric Staudenmaier