MMA developed a research framework for affordable housing in Los Angeles in collaboration with Holos Communities and the modular manufacturer Guerdon. The work centers on a standardized modular unit design and a stepped stacking strategy tested across three distinct infill sites: a six-story, 49-unit building in Santa Monica (2019), an 88-unit building in Echo Park (2020), and a 30-unit, three-story building in Wilmington (2020). Each project applies the same core elements—modular units, open corridors, and integrated community spaces—while responding to the specific constraints and contexts of its site.

The Santa Monica project occupies a former Department of Transportation parking lot, with the massing stepping toward Santa Monica Boulevard to create a shaded front yard while providing accessible stacked parking from the alley. The 26,000 square foot building integrates solar photovoltaic panels into south-facing units, supplying renewable energy and shading. Open spaces and resident services are distributed throughout the six-story structure.

The Echo Park building applies the same modular logic to a narrow site with 80 feet of street frontage on Glendale Boulevard. The 49,000 square foot, 88-unit structure orients its short façade to the street, with the massing extending deeper into the site. This iteration introduced one- and two-bedroom units in addition to studios, expanding the range of household types the system can accommodate while maintaining the proportions of the base modular unit.

The Wilmington building tests the system in a lower-density, predominantly residential neighborhood. The 18,000 square foot, 30-unit structure reduces the massing to three stories and eliminates the podium, stacking units directly on traditional footings to create accessible crawl space and mechanical areas. Like Echo Park, the building’s short façade faces the street, but the reduced height and density align the project with the scale of the surrounding low-rise context.

Across the three projects, the stepped stacking strategy admits light and air deep into each site while creating physical and visual connections between interior and exterior spaces. The research demonstrates how a shared set of standardized components can generate site-specific variation—producing buildings that respond to their immediate contexts while accelerating both design and construction timelines through the use of prefabricated, modular construction.