In recent years, AA has become increasingly involved in the development of Los Angeles’ emerging West Adams neighborhood.  To understand and appropriately intervene in a particular region of West Adams, FARMDALE was developed -- an observation-based urban analysis aimed at generating ideas about the neighborhood’s local character.

A survey of Farmdale’s current residential landscape reveals a low-density fabric of single-family homes, small multi-family structures, and a few larger apartment houses.

Due largely the Metro E Line’s arrival (2012) and the transit-oriented development incentives that followed, the neighborhood’s residential character projects towards more and more density, particularly in the area between West Jefferson Boulevard and the Metro E line where the underlying zone and parcel structure makes development particularly attractive.

A parallel survey of Farmdale’s current commercial landscape reveals an abundance of industrial and post-industrial structures in varying states of vacancy, disrepair, and transformation.  Where industry has departed, retail showrooms, art programming, creative offices, and a few entertainment-oriented businesses have arrived.  

The neighborhood’s commercial outlook projects to further erode Farmdale’s increasingly post-industrial tissue, first as existing structures are adapted, and later as new construction provides the opportunity for multi-story structures to accommodate the increasingly active uses of contemporary Los Angeles.

Despite Farmdale trending toward residential density and commercial activity, the otherwise walkable neighborhood remains bereft of destinations providing healthy food.  Even when expanding the survey beyond Farmdale’s core, the options are slim and largely limited to discount/convenience grocery and fast food.

For the neighborhood’s walkability and proximity to public transit to result in patterns of living that are not car-dependent, future development must promote the introduction of neighborhood-scale groceries and restaurants within a 10-minute walk of the neighborhood core.

From the driver’s seat, Farmdale’s commercial corridor is a largely forgettable, homogenous array of large, solid, monolithic, single-story masonry structures on either side of a fast-moving street.

From the sidewalk, a closer look reveals a particularly rich array of masonry articulation and ornament, covered by an 80-year palimpsest of impromptu intervention and decay that results in Farmdale’s specific highly-textured material character.

Like much of non-coastal Los Angeles, Farmdale’s climate is mild-to-hot and dry with plenty of sunlight. The neighborhood supports a wide array of plant species, but within the public realm, vegetation is confined to sidewalk pockets, planters, and building surfaces. These dense, somewhat feral nodes of vegetation interact with the neighborhood’s materiality to create spatial experiences specific to the neighborhood.

The post-industrial monoliths that populate Farmdale’s commercial corridor distribute their material character with a consistent kit of tectonic devices.  In nearly every case, some assemblage of cornice, signage band, base, region, and recess differentiate one solid mass from the next.