Hedging the Commons UCLA AUD Studio Project Instructor: Katy Barkan To explore strategies for densi昀椀cation in LA, this project refutes the dominant historical narrative of boosterism and suburban fan- tasy of Los Angeles. To this end, I envision this community as a prototypical design for a mixed-use development appropriate for new modes of ownership including TIC’s, Co-Ops, or community land trusts. 吀栀e basic form is a rectangular array of multifamily modules which range in square footage to accommo- date varying household sizes and needs, but I also focused on a ubiquitous feature of LA’s suburban landscape: the hedge. Historically hedges in LA have been used to enclose and delineate private space; Here I employ them to blur the distinction between public and pri- vate, as well as residential and commercial. Circulation through the site is managed by the hedge, and the hedge continues to weave throughout the development, which obscures not only the privacy of each area, but also the boundaries of the units and 昀氀oors. Unit mod- ule rotation allows for a Venn-diagram e昀昀ect, in which neighbors might share a staircase with one neighbor but a porch with a di昀昀erent neighbor. My overall ambition for this project is that by creating a blurred spectrum from public to private and by utilizing a tool of pri- vate enclosure to create shared areas, we can explore new typologies for a dense and resil- ient Los Angeles. 12 13