MARKET HOUSING — WORKSHOP Girardi Kabala

MARKET HOUSING
Program: Multi-Family Residential, Mixed-Use, Art Studios
Location: Venice, California
Size: 15,000 SF
Phase: National Single Stair Competition – Honorable Mention

Awarded with an honorable mention in the 2025 National Single Stair Competition, our proposal Market Housing folds affordable living, work studios, and community spaces into a compact collection of terraced volumes that architecturally play with the various scales of its context and encourage both vertical and horizontal social integration.

Utilizing recently evolving legal frameworks that allow an increased density of residential units on commercially zoned lots (e.g. California SB6 and AB2011), and existing incentives that support equitable ownership models (e.g., community land trusts), the project organizes residential and communal work spaces around ‘nodes’ of flexible and shared program, where each floor is comprised of two main units with attached studio ADUs connected by a ‘node.’ This allows units to expand or contract as the various needs associated with labor, income, and family patterns shift and flutuate. Finally, a community-owned ground floor offers additional creative and financial possibilities, including a large gallery/leasable event space and an art fabrication shop.

2025, RESIDENTIAL, MULTI-FAMILY, COMPETITION, COLLECTIVE

WORKSHOP
Founded in March 2024, WORKSHOP GIRARDI KABALA is a design studio based in LA on the search for practical, beautiful and historically resonant form and space.

GIRARDI
Melina Girardi, Assoc. AIA, is a designer from Vienna with 10 years of experience in architecture, design and construction, ranging from residential design, cultural institutions and commercial/hospitality spaces to stage design, including 5 years with Frank Gehry.

KABALA
Matthew Kabala is a designer with an MArch. degree from the Yale School of Architecture. His experience ranges from architecture and stage design to textiles and painting, including 6 years with Frank Gehry.