05/30/2025
Backlot Living: A New Script for Housing in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, like many cities across the United States, faces an urgent demand for affordable housing. At CREO, we believe this moment calls not just for more units, but for a reinvention of how we imagine living itself—with dignity, flexibility, and contextual relevance at its core.
For the Small Lots, Big Impacts design competition hosted by UCLA, our team explored a compact urban site with a linear footprint. In response, we developed three distinct yet interrelated housing typologies, each with its own facade expression, unified through a central S-shaped spine—a dynamic circulation system that acts as both connector and community anchor.
Rather than prescribing a rigid solution, we embraced architectural flexibility as our core principle—drawing inspiration from Los Angeles’ iconic backlots, where structures are adaptable, customizable, and built for imagination. We believe housing should empower its residents, offering a framework that allows for personal expression within a coherent system.
Natural wood was chosen not just for its cost-effectiveness and environmental performance, but for its warmth and timeless character—elevating the experience of everyday living without compromising affordability.
Backlot Living is a prototype that is resilient, replicable, and rooted in identity, showcasing CREO’s broader commitment to Creativity, Research, Equity, and Opportunity. Our proposal reflects a future where affordable housing isn’t reduced to bare minimums, but elevated through thoughtful design, adaptable systems, and human-scale development.
Because the future of housing should be lived, not just occupied.
