Collective Spaces
-A study inthe conversion of storage to living spaces
in City of Industry, California
by Tony H. Su
B.A., History of Art and Architecture
Brown University, 2000
Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Architecture
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
June 2005
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
JUN28 2005
LIBRARIES
@ 2005 Tony H. Su
All rights reserved.
The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies
of this thesis document in whole or in part.
May 19, 2005
Ton&H. Su
Department of Architecture
Michael Dennis
Professor of Architecture
Thesis Advisor
EillHubbard, Jr.
Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture
Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Students
ROTOH,
Thesis Committee
Advisor:
Readers:
Michael Dennis, Professor of Architecture
Carol Burns, Visiting Associate Professor of Architecture
Christopher P. Csikszentmihelyi, Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
Arindam Dutta, Associate Professor of History of Architecture
Greg Morrow, Lecturer in Department of Urban Studies and Plannning
Special Thanks and Acknowledgements,
Michael Dennis, for always telling things as it is, wit, humor, and positive support.
Arindam Dutta, for always thought-provoking criticism.
Greg Morrow, for providing practical criticisms.
Michelle Lin, for much much editing support and constant encouragement.
Konstantinos Chadios, for much much editing support and keeping things entertaining.
Finally, my parents and my family for their never-ending support.
Collective Spaces - A study in the conversion of storage to living spaces
in City of Industry, California
by Tony H. Su
Submitted to the Department of Architecture on May 19, 2005 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
ABSTRACT
A research and design study was instigated to rethink the phenomenon of storage in relation to contemporary
living spheres. Although few historical traces of personal storage remain, the study of the evolution of commercial storage revealed a progression from spaces for hoarding goods to spaces for housing activities of
production.
Zooming in on site, City of Industry, in Los Angeles, California, an island of warehouse typologies
was found in the midst of diverse residential neighborhoods facing increasing housing pressures. Furthermore, mappings of "big box" warehouse spaces within Industry revealed inefficiencies in storage practices and
the potential for remaking the City into a more porous oasis of living/working. It would not only be made more
porous simply in terms of providing mulit-use living spaces, but in terms of providing living accomodations for
a range of constituents, ranging from laborers, students, to recent immigrants who have not yet assimilated
to typical suburban single-detached housing. As a test case, one warehouse building exemplifying typical
construction/use of Industry was examined in more detail and strategies of conversion from storage to living
were illustrated.
Thesis Advisor: Michael Dennis
Title: Professor of Architecture
7WT
PWO-nONS
ii
Table of Contents
I. Evolutio n of Sto rage .....................................................................................................
.6
11.City of Industry: Contemporary storage in an urban context...................................... 10
Ill. Delirious City of Industry- Behind concrete walls and inside big boxes.................... 14
IV. Activation thru conversion of a typical commercial warehouse to mixed living units.....22
V. Cargo containers and other precedents of conversions............................................
42
VI. Re-visiting storage site in its urban context............................................................... 46
i.
Evolution of Sto ra ge..........................................................................................................
w i y Contemporary
-ityr
storage in an urban context........................................10
f
Itof
- indIustry- Behind concrete walls and inside big boxes........14
c. .vtn
*argo
hru conversion of a typical commercial warehouse to mixed living units........22
containers and other precedents of conversions...................42
v i ng storage site in its urban context...................................................
46
6
,
L
circa zouu
ts..
More than four thousand years ago, the idea of storing
away surpluses of water and other agricultural products was
critical to the success of the the Egyptian civilization.1 In
times of flooding in the Nile Delta region, water could be
channeled to reservoirs that could be drawn upon in times of
drought. Storage facilitated the regular supply of water and
other natural resources.
circa 1400 A.D.
With the rise of seafaring and trade, especially
in Mediterranean ports like Venice in 1400 AD, storage
grew to encompass more than an act of accumulation.
Storing not only resources essential for survival, the
warehouses at ports stored goods and luxuries that
could be exchanged with others for profit. Storage became linked with transportation and moving of goods
across distant regions.2
By the time of Industrialization in the West, warehouses became centers of production. Machines were housed in
them and people spent much of their working lives involved in
manufacturing goods out of these types of spaces. One could
argue that at this point in history, there grew a disjunction between spaces and users. Large span halls for housing machines were not necessarily the most friendly environments
for people.
_
_
_
The drive to amass, produce, and exchange
goods thru industrial efficiency produced many variants of storage containers, both static and mobile.
Railroad companies often used warehouses at strategic locations to consolidate shipments of goods. To
service large clients, rail cars would also be deployed
as storage to compete against other modes of transportation.
After World War II, mechanization continued to trans-
The development of the highway system and
form the shape of warehouse spaces. Specifically, the de-
the automobile in the U.S. contributed to the sprawl
velopment of the forklift and a standard pallet for packaging/
and suburbanization of commercial warehouses not
shipping goods facilitated relocation of storage to non-urban
unlike their effects on residential developments away
areas.3 Land to develop warehouses was usually cheaper
from urban centers. Having been developed on un-
away from urban transportation hubs and the forklift lessened
constrained sites, warehouses usually have been de-
dependence on human labor.
signed in a fortress-like manner with a moat of parking
lots and a small fraction of floor area devoted to offices.
They have been constructed with utmost attention to
the flow of goods, neglecting their impact on the scale
Distribution center diagram4
of pedestrian movement.
11.
City of Industry: Contemporary storage in an urban context.....10
Ironically, the sprawl of residential and commercial programs converge in an urban condition in City of Industry, a city
of warehouses thirty minutes east of Downtown Los Angeles. It is mostly a light industrial zone occupied by warehouses
which store and/or produce goods. With an area of 14 square miles, its population numbers less than 1000.5 Cambridge,
Massachusetts, occupies 6.5 square miles and has a population of over 100,000. Walnut, a city directly north of City of
Industry, occupies 9 square miles and has a population of about 30,000. These density comparisons suggest that a rise in
housing demand in the region could certainly be accomodated by Industry.
Interms of location, it is also well suited to bring together adjacent communities. It straddles a major freeway, the 60
East/West Pomona Freeway and is at the intersection of diverse suburban communities. La Puente, to the northwest, is
predominantly middle/lower class and claimed by Hispanics. Walnut and Rowland Heights, to the North and South, is
heavily populated by recent immigrants from China,
Taiwan, and Korea.
The range in social classes
amongst the latter group of immigrants are also diverse, ranging from unskilled laborers to educated.
Interspersed and cutting across these groups/classes
are students attracted to local colleges, no less than
three of which are located within 20 miles of the area.
They include California State Polytechnic University,
Pomona, Mt. San Antonio Community College, and
Whittier College.
Macro Site Analysis-
As shown in the drawing, the
grain of City of Industry is
more coarse than surrounding communitites. Relatively
large city blocks and parcels
characterize the area. Presently, big box retailers line
the southern edge of Industry,
providing the only public interaction with surrounding neighborhoods. Two rail networks
traverse thru Industry as well.
C)
H
r
In an urban context
0
Ill. Delirious City of Industry- Behind concrete walls and inside big boxes.....14
YC
1V.
O
A2o
ixed livi
n
.
-A, 'A
So what to do? One might say the only way to remake City of Industry into a more habitable and accessible place
is by razing some big box warehouses and inserting smaller buildings of mixed use. It would be nothing short of the tabula
rasa strategies we have been so fond of in previous eras. A finer look at what goes beyond existing warehouse buildings
in Industry reveals more interesting possibilities. In one warehouse, seen in the image to the left, one finds a house of worship. In other operations, one finds regulation-sized basketball courts and bar lounges constructed to entertain employees
and clients. If these warehouses, as a building type, can already accomodate such a range of uses, why would one want
to start over, other than to achieve aesthetic appearance befitting typical residential neighborhoods?
Towards "ugly" preservation...
Analyzing more warehouse facilities, one gleans the importance of repetitive modules in their construction and functions. In the following mappings, a public storage facility, Costco, printing company, and a shoe company are examined.
All are operations which take place within parcel boundaries and also behind the concrete walls of Industry warehouses.
In the Costco and public storage compositions, one can discern more disciplined use of modules, probably due in part to
their being international operations which have nearly perfected efficient use of space for storage. In the Costco case, for
example, the standard pallet size that is linked with the forklift determines the aisle length and width, not pedestrian friendliness, despite the operation being visited by shoppers with carts.
DNA's of warehouse operations
PMMMH,
RHMH
H11MM
-
store
HHH
(public storage facility)
wHHH=
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tcocst
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-
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-Li
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store
(printing company)
NH.
design
& clsploy
(shoe company)
sel
& store
a olsptciy/seU olesigr & olisploay/seUL
store
| | | |I
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=
store st
ni"Asdv
operations
~
~s
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11111
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Mir
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111111 111111111 III 111111 111111
l l l l l llI
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1 1 1 1I I1II1I1| 1| 1| 1| |11111111
| |ilIl|
Public storage spaces as variations on a single module
TII==1
LOMMMMH Hf
HI
P11
IIII !:FFFRTR4:FflFR4:R:RTF
storee
SII I IIHIII IIHIIIIIIIIIHHIIIIIH
1/128'
= 1'
D
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genera tive module 5'x5'
1/32'
= 1'
.......
.......
1/128'
= 1'
1/32'
-----
--I
II II 1111111 11111 1111111 11111
I
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--generative module 48"x40"
anaOngof
10 a GOIUGaa
" Ii
____
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1'
Costco spaces as variations on a
single module, the pallet
|IZI
store & d splay/sel
=
____
___
____
___ ____
___ ____ ___
___19
Time-Use studies of operation
02:0004:0006:0008:00
10:0012:00LLF
14:0016:00Y
18:00-
In smaller scale operations, such as the shoe company above, there is less efficiency in terms of storage. Al-
20:00-
24:0W
Mon
i iUS
vveas I inurs I rn
I bat
i bun
|
I inurs i rn
i bat
i 5un
| Mon
Mon
i iues
i Weas I
though the pallet module is evident, it does not determine
the entire layout inside the warehouse. There are offices
to accomodate, which is less likely to be the case in bigger
02:00,
04:00
operations which have specialized corporate headquarters
08:00
for offices and distribution centers solely for storage, for
10:00
12:0W
instance.
But it is precisely these types of warehouses which
begin to offer an oppurtunity to speculate about a more dynamic City of Industry. Inefficiency in the context of commercial logistics and a trend towards just-in-time delivery
business models give way to efficiency when one speculates about conversion to alternative use. Interviews with
14:0
16:00
18:00
20:0W
22:0
24:00
Mon
I
iues
1Weas
i iUS
e
Weas
I
the operation's executives revealed that the company
was actually outgrowing this space in terms of both
storage and office space. In terms of fiscal efficiency,
it would also make more sense in the long-term to
keep most of the storage in cheaper real estate markets overseas.6
Looking beyond the physical form of the operation, the schedule of activities which occur in the
course of the company's business operations were
also taken into account. The important discovery that
was made was that there were also gaps in the usage
of the site that could accomodate alternative non-commercial use. And although the official work schedule
is 9 am to 5 pm, much work occurs beyond the span in
a domestic setting. For instance, since many contacts
are overseas in a different time zone, teleconferencing
often takes place at night after regular work hours.
IV. Activation thru conversion of a typical commercial warehouse to mixed living
units.....22
Having established an evolution of storage building typologies which has increasingly neglected human scale despite
accomodating more human activities, one can argue that the commercially "inefficient" remnants in City of Industry are ripe
for experimentation. Through experimentation with a conversion of a warehouse exhibiting typical characteristics of construction and space, one can begin to re-envision the context of Industry.
site selection/application
I
0
'
s
fB
tng1
i
i
i
ag
5 000 sf Offn'os
50 Pa rkingspc
Street perspective facing north at night
st pl
--
site plan
-
+JLj
1
C:.3r-_r
ri't~p~,i
0
r
As a first pass, the scale of the warehouse is related to typical housing parcels in suburbs and in cities. At one extreme, the suburban plot, one family occupies one parcel and separates itself thru landscaping. At the other extreme, in a
Manhattan city block, one residence is stacked atop another and contiguous with adjacent buildings. The warehouse site
offers much outdoor space due to building coverage rules, but at the same time can achieve substantially more density than
adjacent suburban developements even if it partially emulates the Manhattan model.
54.
2,400sf
I
-
Warehouse Site
148-
Manhattan block
250-
110'
.
21,500 sf
3.000 sf
1000'
Micro Site AnalysisAs shown in the drawing,
the building only has four
internal columns supporting a primary line of beams.
This primary line of beams
divides the building into two
approximately 50-foot halves.
Perpendicular to these are
secondary joists (approximately 50-foot long each)
spaced every eight feet. The
walls are made up of tilt-up
concrete panels which are
approximately 24' wide x 31.5'
high each.
25
24'x40' Module study
8'x40' Module study
24'x20' Module study
-S zz1
I
Study models/sketches of different scales
liv
Ip~
Conversion studiesTaking the 8-foot joist spacing
as the starting module, variations were studied that could
accomodate living units.
Negative spaces which had
largely been neglected on the
site were made into positive
spaces of circulation, courtyards, and stacked programs.
In the model to the right, the
24'x20' modules were arranged to provide circulation
and sun exposure to each
unit. The circulation was
modeled in solid.
127
Programmatic & Site studies-
ro give interior units exposure to light, additional skylights were punched in the roof,
again falling within the 8-foot roof joist
spacings. Existing skylights are 4'x8' and
perpendicular with respect to the central
aisle of new skylights.
The two schemes to the left are
identical in terms of conversions within
exisiting walls. In the above left scheme,
units are maximized. In the lower left
scheme, the units preserve more of the
existing open spaces and reshape them
into a series of courtyards. Being in
Los Angeles, where density like that of
Manhattan is undesirable, the scheme
still achieves more density in relation to
neighboring suburban developments.
Phasing studies (right)A phased approach of intervention ac(nowledges the different lifespans within
:he structure and functions of the buildng. It allows the building to remain opDrational as it is being transformed. As
:he company's inventory decreases due
:o consolidation of goods elsewhere, the
)ffice staff can still be functional and even
:ake advantage of new communal ameni:ies. For the developer, there is less risk
nvolved in phasing because he/she can
gauge the market and release units as
28
:hey are demanded.
Facade studies
F2
mw
Phase I circulation
F1
2F
Phase 11circulation
Fl
Phasing conceptsAs a new type of housing inthe region that
is to encourage interaction and shared resources, especially appealing to students
and laborers, each phase of the project
would be anchored by a communal amenity.
Final illustrations of vision for conversion and activation...
31
Accumulation of "goods"
LU
Exist ing uses- distribut on
warehouse and offices
Phase I uses- distribution
warehouse and offces
+ (1) communal laundromat,
(2)cooking space, and (3) living
Lower Level
32
Ph ase Ifuses- distribution
warehouse and offices
+ communal laundromat
cooking space, and iving
spaces
+living spaces,
(4) courtyard spaces and (5) gyrn
Phase 111uses7
.
anc offices
+communal laundromat,
cooking space, and living
spaces
+living spaces,
courtyard spaces and gym
+(6) communal conference /
media center
33
I
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Lower level plan
34
Upper level plan
35
AbovePerspective
showing second level
units along south wall
and balcony connection to second level
courtyard.
RightPerspective
showing internal central court and adjoining
living spaces, gym
38
.
..............
=m
Right- Sectional perspective
showing
double height units
with double exposure
as well as larger communal living unit adjacent to internal central
court.
Left- Sectional perspective
showing
internal courtyard locations and external
balcony/walkway.
41
li C;ontext. ... .10
1WI 's
e big boXeS...
14
C arehouse
a
to r xed living units. ...... 22
V. Cargo containers and other precedents of conversions...................42
-I -
11
-
.
-
... __WM'WW IV
W.MWW-W
Since a central premise of the thesis involved exploiting existing standards, whether they be big box warehouses
or structural modules, research into logistics pertaining to cargo handling methods were also explored. After all, it is quite
amazing how despite the variety of goods that are exchanged globally, they all are tailored to fit into standard-sized containers, which not coincidentally also do not exceed the width of highway lanes they must ultimately traverse be towed by
trucks. Even humans, one can argue, are fitted into jumbo jets which initially was intended to carry cargo, and not people.
Containers transport solids as well as liquids. They can be rigid or collapsible. They are handled with super-sized forklifts
which can pick and stack containers.
8'- 2"
20'-012"
000
70>0
Standard container variations7
open-top
collapsible
fridge
Ie
liquid/gas
Ihangers
44
Air transporters 8
sft
47
Aktx.AM
Soek416
s..anS5s
mae
obb
hfto
t-ft-k -A w
707
-
mll24
IIm
45
o
*
S
r of Storage.
)
. ..............
.
............................................
6
sitry: Contenrrary stor -ge in an urban context........10
Ct, of ndtst
ru conwers-
Behind concrete alls and inside big boxes........14
of a typical commercial warehouse to mixed living units...
22
VI. Re-visiting storage site in its urban context...........................................46
Macro Site AnalysisAs shown in the drawing,
the grain of City of Industry
is more coarse tln sur
Relatively large city blocks
and parcels characterize
the area. Presently., big
box retailers line an edge
of Industry, providing the
only interaction with surrounding neighborhoods.
Two rail networks traverse
thru Industry as well.
Macro Site ProposalThe
building conversion
should not be seen as an "one
off." If imagined as the first
of several transformations
within the context of Industry,
then porosity and exchange
with neighboring populations
becomes more convincing.
New streets are introduced
to improve circulation and a
railyard takes on commuter
transport functions.
Notes/References
1. Ackerman, Kenneth B., R.W. Gardner, and Lee P.Thomas.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. City of Industry Website. 1 February 2005 <http://www.cityofindustry.org/index2.html>.
6. Hong, Ruey. Interviews with EMS Company personnel. City of Industry. 10 January 2005.
7. Evergreen Website. 1 February 2005 <http://www.evergreen-marine.com/tei1/jsp/TE11_Containers.jsp>.
8. Wikipedia Website. "Airbus Beluga" 11 May 2004. 1 March 2005. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirbusBeluga>.
48
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Betsky, Aaron. "Hybrid House," Architecture. 2003 October.
Bowker, Geoffrey and Susan Leigh Star. Sorting Things Out. Cambridge: MIT Press. 1999.
Chorafas, Dimitris N. Warehousing. New York: American Elsevier Publishing Co., Inc. 1974.
City of Industry Website. 1 February 2005 <http://www.cityofindustry.org/index2.html>.
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Gardner Jr., Ralph. "Curators from the Cradle, Marbles, Bugs, and Warhols," New York Times: 2004 May 13.
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Terrazzo Jungle," New Yorker: 2004 March 15.
Gruen Associates. General Plan -City of Industry. Industry: City of Industry Planning Commission. 1971.
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49
50