In 2018, the City of Los Angeles made over 1,700 city-owned parcels available to affordable housing developers. Many of these sites lie along heavy traffic corridors or next to freeways—difficult, often overlooked land. In other cases, they’re awkwardly assembled parcels left untouched for decades. It’s in these liminal, ambiguous spaces that we see opportunity—and a meaningful next step for housing in the City.

Our second collaboration with non-profit developer Holos Communities, Isla Intersections, embraces this challenge. The 54-unit, 35,000-square-foot project occupies a 19,814-square-foot triangular site formed by a traffic island and a former railroad right of way, adjacent to the massive 110/105 freeway interchange.

The building consists of sixteen staggered towers made from modular recycled-steel shipping containers—three per unit—each 480 square feet. The compact homes feature open plans with ADA kitchens, bathrooms, and living spaces. Organized along Broadway Street, the towers are connected by elevated walkways and arranged to frame communal outdoor courtyards and a series of pocket parks.

The design shifts in height from five to two stories along the west edge, responding to the nearby single-family neighborhood and creating a more human-scale relationship to Athens Way and the newly designed Annenberg Paseo. This “slow space” prioritizes pedestrians and bikers, while the ground level hosts storefronts for retail, job training, and support services.

The paseo and marketplace also function as a “living lung,” filtering air pollutants with site-specific trees, vines, and shrubs. Rooftop gardens will supply produce for popup markets and help expand a growing network of urban farms in South LA—including the Stanford Avalon Community Garden just a mile away.

In a time when LA seeks bold housing solutions, Isla demonstrates how overlooked spaces can become catalytic—redefining how we live, work, and grow in the city.