Ramsgate Avenue Apartments

Project Design

Most of the projects featured in this PORCH installation are “100% affordable,” meaning all units are reserved for residents who meet income eligibility requirements. Another approach to creating affordable housing is through “inclusionary policies,” whereby a percentage of units in a market-rate development are set aside for below market rents, resulting in a “mixed-income” development. This is the case in the City of Los Angeles, which is currently building out a regional mass transit system and has a Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) Incentive Program. TOC encourages mixed-income development by offering various incentives including density bonuses – the right to add more units or height – to developers who include a percentage of affordable units in market-rate projects near transit. The new Ramsgate Apartments in Los Angeles is a TOC project, with 8 of its 33 units designated as affordable.

Ramsgate Apartments (2025) consists of two five story blocks that sit on a landscaped podium (one or two levels of concrete containing ground level uses like retail or parking) and surround a courtyard. The roof terrace provides community space with views of the city, mountains and ocean.

A distinctive feature of the Ramsgate Apartments is the creation of a porch for each unit. Typically, the dwellings in multi-story buildings open directly onto shared corridors, without any real sense of arrival. The architects wanted to introduce a threshold between public and private, so they set back the entrances and carved out a small porch space, framed with plants. Their hope is that this in-between space encourages a moment of pause and interaction between neighbors. By aligning the porch, the open living, dining and kitchen space and the balcony at the exterior edge, residents are simultaneously connected to the interior, open courtyard and the cityscape.

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Clockwise from top: Ramsgate Avenue Apartments, façade and porch spaces. Renderings by Wyota Workshop.