Development Auto Motives

Los Angeles’s slow but visible transition to “carless living” helped shape LOHA’s pedestrian-friendly Sunset Strip housing.

- Janelle Zara

Despite the long Los Angeles traditions of hot rods, two-car garages, and endlessly congested freeways, the City of Angels is undergoing a cultural movement toward the unthinkable: independence from the automobile. The city’s light-rail system, which only recently connected downtown Los Angeles to the beach, continues to expand, while a crop of new arts-district communities tout walking-distance amenities—shops, bars, and restaurants—as major selling points.

Following suit and wooing potential carless residents is AKA West Hollywood, a newly completed mixed-use apartment complex. Its centerpiece is a pedestrian thoroughfare that cuts through two wedge-shaped eight-story buildings that occupy an entire two-acre city block. Designed by L.A. firm Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA) in collaboration with SOM, they angle toward each other, framing a walkway bordered on either side by ground-floor retail and dining destinations.