BIGBOX Housing

The Future of Housing in Los Angeles studio set an urgent challenge: rezone for 255,000 new housing units or risk losing federal funding. BIGBOX Housing reimagines the city’s 16 million square feet of oversized, underused retail warehouses as modular, resident-led, mixed-income neighborhoods. Developed as a strategic playbook, the proposal combines adaptive reuse, geospatial analysis, and real estate modeling to identify sites near transit for transformation. A conceptual case study in Green Meadows envisions converting a warehouse into a 500-unit mixed-use community with small businesses, health and community centers, and public gathering spaces. At its core is the Community Roof Trust (CRT) model, which provides shared structural and utility infrastructure while enabling residents to customize homes with a prefabricated kit-of-parts over a ten-year phased build. Integrating solar energy, a single-meter utility system, and rental income from retained warehouse space, the project balances affordability, sustainability, and resident agency—offering a replicable model for equitable urban transformation.