Rose Apartments

Project Design

Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa of Brooks + Scarpa lead a much lauded firm that has found many imaginative ways to elevate the quality of low-income housing. A courtyard is typically at the center – but not always at street level. Instead, in some complexes they raise them up over ground level uses, offering views for residents onto the street, from a safe distance, which they have found more desirable, especially for those who have experienced the trauma of living on the streets.

This approach is modeled in Rose Apartments (2022), a very distinctive, four-story, building containing 35, 100% affordable dwellings for a mix of young people who have transitioned out of foster care, and people who had been unhoused. It is over ground level offices on Rose Avenue leading to the beach in Venice, not far from Horatio West Court, a beloved courtyard complex built in 1919 by the founding modernist Irving Gill.

At Rose Apartments there are essentially two courtyards, presenting to passersby like two elevated stages, connected by deep steps which serve as seating, and hugged by three wings of studio apartments. In addition there are landscaped terraces and a flying bridge, all offering residents a selection of outdoor spaces for gathering or for private repose.

Like many LA buildings, the main exterior material is commonly used cement plaster, or stucco, but here it was scalloped and sprinkled with sparkle grain to add depth, texture and a touch of glamor.

More about Rose Apartments. 

More about Brooks + Scarpa.

More about Venice Community Housing.

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Top: Rose Apartments elevation. Photo by Jeff Durkin/Breadtruck Films; Bottom left and right: cantilevered bridge at Rose Apartments. Photos by Brooks + Scarpa.