Case Study: Adapt has selected 10 architecture studios to take part in an initiative to design homes for people affected by the devastating January wildfires based on the mid-century Case Study home building initiative.
The initiative brings together studios working in the region and will pair them with clients who lost a house in the fires to create new structures that, according to the organization, will “reimagine the future of residential design”.
It has set loose parameters wherein the residences must be under 3,000 square feet, be built in the areas primarily affected by the recent fires – Pacific Palisades and Altadena – and have construction begin “as soon as feasible” once the matching and design processes are complete.
The brief also suggests that the designs blend “climate resiliency, affordability and style to define a new era of California living – what we call New Century Modern”.
The initiative is based on the mid-century Case Study Program that called on influential modern architects such as Richard Neutra, Charles Eames and Pierre Koenig to create experimental housing in the midst of a housing crisis following world war two.
Between 1945 and 1966, 36 homes were designed and 25 were built, many geared towards new programmes for single-family residences that were affordable and could keep up with the demand during the post-war boom.
The programme achieved these goals with varying degrees of success, and several of the structures survice today as icons of mid-century modernism.
Case Study: Adapt stems from co-founder Dustin Bramell’s own experience of losing his home during the fires. Bramell told Dezeen that the day after the fires destroyed his home, he called friend and entrepreneur Leo Siegal to begin talks on founding the organization.
“I called Leo that same morning, and I said, ‘Hey, I have this crazy idea we should bring back the Case Study Program’,” said Bramell.
How do we measure value?
Bramell said that one of the primary motivators was trying to bring a new sense of value to residential architecture in the region, where he says to much emphasis has been placed on “maximizing square footage”.
“I think that one of the things that we need to reconsider is, what is value, and how do we measure it,” he said.
The co-founders will allow creative freedom to the architects, who will face both the exigencies of an increasingly unstable climate as well as building restrictions, costs and the financial complexities of remediation and insurance for property owners in the wake of the fire.
Some architects taking part in the programme have noted the opportunity presented by building in the tradition of the original case study houses.
“We all know how important the original case study program was to the city of Los Angeles and most architects,” Woods + Dangaran co-founder Brett Woods told Dezeen.
“This revamp is, from our perspective, a way of extending that gift to the city of LA and exploring what modern architecture is and still is and will be in the future.”
Woods also highlighted the need for appropriate scales, echoing Bramell, and emphasised the need for defensible space, landscaped areas around homes that reduce the spread of wildfire, in the construction of the new houses.
“The integration of architecture and landscape is going to be the delicate dance moving forward.” Woods added.
Medium density
Others, such as Bestor Architecture founder Barbara Bestor, emphasized the need to take into account income disparities between the different communities affected, as well as the continued need for density in the housing crisis-struck area.
She mentioned the use of accessible materials such as scissor tresses and stucco to rebuild and the need to lean on state-wide legislation that has been developed to allow for accessible dwelling units.
“Medium density is a comfort area for me,” Bestor told Dezeen.
“Because it keeps that character of LA – but you could double the population.”
Montalba Architects founder David Montalba said that the initiative presents opportunities for collaboration between architects that are usually in competition to change some of the commonplace construction practices, though he cautioned against assumptions of radical change.
“There are a lot of problems that need to be solved, not just creative problems, but policy problems,” Montalba told Dezeen. “I think we won’t understand the impact of all this for a while, and hopefully, we find new opportunities to do things a little differently.”
“I think sometimes from hardship comes great things,” Montalba told Dezeen, referencing the crises that precipitated the previous Case Study Program.
Montalba also mentioned the potential to use his studio’s “global laboratory” to apply lessons in material and form from international locations to inform new building practices at home.
All of the participants Dezeen spoke to referenced the need for experimentation. Today, many of these experiments take place at the luxury level, with clients that have the money to afford forward-thinking architectural practices.
Bestor mentioned the possibility of creating open-source formats for the designs produced and also suggested using “micro-finance” to try and apply some of the designs to rebuilding efforts for the middle classes.
Architecture studios involved include Assembledge+, Bestor Architecture, EYRC Architects, Geoffrey von Oeyen Design, Johnston Marklee, Marmol Radziner, Montalba Architects, Standard Architecture Design, Walker Workshop and Woods + Dangaran.
Case Study: Adapt is seeking non-profit status.
Photography by Roger Davies unless otherwise stated.
The Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025 destroyed tens of thousands of structures in the city, including houses by modernist architect Richard Neutra.
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