Bonnie Brae Courts

Westlake, Los Angeles

28 affordable homes around a shared courtyard in Westlake.

Three-storey lime-plastered homes surround a planted courtyard, with timber pergolas shading open galleries and terracotta pots lining the paths.

The courtyard from the street entrance.

Type

Housing

Status

Completed

Place

Westlake, Los Angeles

Year

2018–2022

Area

2,650 m² / 28,520 ft²

Client

Alvarado Housing Partners

Team

Ada Okoro, Priya Raman, Amara Diallo, Ben Rosen

Photography

AI-generated imagery

Brief

28 homes for families, from one to three bedrooms, within a budget set by public funding.

Site

Two combined lots on a street of 1920s bungalow courts.

Approach

Three-storey blocks wrap a planted courtyard. Every home has windows on two sides and is entered from an open gallery facing the court. Walls are concrete block finished in lime plaster. Timber pergolas shade the galleries in summer.

Outcome

Completed in 2022. Commended in the Courtyard Prize for Housing Design, 2022.

Courtyard level plan, 1:200

Paved paths and native planting lead to ground-floor homes beneath Bonnie Brae Courts’ open galleries and timber pergolas.

Courtyard paths at ground level.

An upper-floor access gallery runs beneath a timber pergola, with apartment entrances, dark railings and potted plants overlooking the courtyard.

Upper gallery under the timber pergola.

Section through the courtyard, 1:200

Raking light reveals the lime-plaster texture beside a timber pergola post, slender dark railing and terracotta pot.

Bonnie Brae Courts’ three-storey pale-plaster exterior rises beside a single-storey bungalow court on a quiet Westlake street.

A quiet corner of the communal courtyard has terracotta pots, native grasses and a redbud tree beneath the surrounding shaded galleries.

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