Design + Develop | 2012 | San Diego, CA
La Esquina (the corner) is a small infill Mix-use project located on the southwestern edge of downtown San Diego, in the heart of the culturally vibrant neighborhood of Barrio Logan. This 4,000 sf two-story building occupies a long-time vacant lot in the corner of Logan Ave. and Sampson St. (2 blocks south of Chicano Park and 3 blocks east of Woodbury School of Architecture) and consists of 1-commercial storefront space and 7x lofts- each paired with it’s own small private patio-deck.
La Esquina is part of larger vision for Barrio Logan that proposes incremental small-scale infill projects to be developed by some of San Diego’s most progressive practitioners (Ted Smith, Lloyd Russell, Teddy Cruz, Catherine Herbst, Todd Rinehart, Robin Brisbois, Rob Quigley, etc.)
The building’s design follows a rigorous 15′ module that allows the resulting units to have double-height interior spaces with mezzanines and similarly scaled adjacent patio-decks that connect interiors and exteriors through large glazed openings. The orientation and massing of the building, plus the distribution, scale and location of apertures are all designed to carefully modulate natural ventilation and illumination.
The project successfully integrates with the scale, material and spirit of the neighborhood and the tenants of La Esquina are mostly artists, designers, students and professors from nearby architecture schools that have become meaningful contributors to the artistically charged spirit of Barrio Logan.
Hector M Perez
in collaboration with Jacob Christensen
De-Arc