Skid Row Housing Trust's Abbey Apartments Nearly Done

Michael Maltzan's award-winning Rainbow Apartments, an affordable housing project on San Pedro, has a new neighbor: Abbey Apartments. Another affordable housing project, this 113-unit project (plus a section for services) was designed by Santa Monica-based Koning Eizenberg Architects and built by Skid Row Housing Trust. The project was featured as a Construction Watch back in April--and now it's nearly done. No, it's not green (as it appears in the rendering). "What you’re seeing is a compromise of what was available in terms of standard stucco," says Brian Lane, Principal at Koning Eizenberg, explaining that stucco comes in a pre-packaged box, ie, you get what you get. "It does have a little green depending on the light. I wish we could have gotten a little more hue into it, like you mention." As for the interesting detail above the door? "The piece is something that was 'value engineered' out of the project," says Lane. "KEA volunteered time to fabricate and install it, we have a light fixture that goes at the bottom (we're looking for a donor for that piece). The Abbey is a special place and this little detail is a small indication of that." In the gallery: A mix of photos we took on a particularly cloudy day and the ones forwarded to us by Koning Eizenberg.
· ConstructionWatch: Abbey Apartments [Curbed LA]