Case Study: Home Prototype: <$200K

Case Study: Designed and Built under $200K: Starter Home Prototype

Attendance is by sliding scale. You may attend as our guest or provide a donation.

This is a virtual event.  Meeting information will be email directly to registrants.

In a new AIA|LA series, Los Angeles architecture firms will present new design paradigms and constructions techniques through in depth case studies.

The first case study is a must-attend for architects with clients on tight budgets, building ADUs or micro-units, or investigating ways to build efficiently and affordably within the City of Los Angeles lot sizes.

It is also provides insights for Angelenos interested in supporting underserved peoples.

Built in South Los Angeles, developed by Restore Neighborhoods Los Angeles (RNLA), the starter home, honors and energizes underserved neighborhoods by simultaneously fitting in and standing out. This prototype shows that dignity, sustainability, sense of luxury and healthy living are not reserved for those at the top of the social ladder.

The award-winning firm Lehrer Architects will present their under $200K starter home. Designed and built for less than $200K, start-to-finish, including permits, construction and the architect’s fees. This starter home prototype elevates the typology by creating spatial complexities, a sense of luxury and energy independence not usually found in this type of housing. It honors and energizes underserved neighborhoods by simultaneously fitting in and standing out.

Yet, the prototype was built using just six sheets and Lehrer Architects insured that the prototype could be constructed on lots of different sizes throughout the city. Among the many solutions the architects devised to reduce costs and address building codes were: draining the entire roof to one central place, providing a single HVAC duct to serve the entire house and to deconstructing the bathroom so that it could be used by 4 people simultaneously.

As part of Lehrer Architects’ presentation of the prototype, Founding Partner Michael B. Lehrer, FAIA, and Managing Partner Nerin Kadribegovic, AIA, will discuss the firm’s micro-unit project(s); each unit is around or sub 300 sq. feet. The firm currently has 5 different, by-right, micro-unit projects in development, all at extremely tight sites. First incorporating 7, second for 8 units, another for 19 units, then 27, and last which will have 52 units.

The under $200K starter home prototype shows that dignity, sustainability, sense of luxury and healthy living are not reserved for those at the top of the social ladder.

Agenda:

• Contextualize in continuum of Housing; from homeless on the street to luxury homes;

• Project Delivery – what are the opportunities to find significant value in stretching conventional delivery systems;

• Path to Prototype; How did we get there?

• Design. Site, space, light, color, program, invention, structure and morphology.

• Learnings and takeaways.

Presenter: Michael B. Lehrer, FAIA – Founding Partner LEHRERARCHITECTS LA 

Presenter: Nerin Kadribegovic, AIA IIDA – Managing Partner LEHRERARCHITECTS LA

Photo Credit: 

Michael B. Lehrer, FAIA 

Nerin Kadribegovic, AIA IIDA