Re:Common
Ariel Chen & Xen Pei Hoi

Our project responds to the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in early 2025, which displaced thousands of residents across Los Angeles. When the studio shifted focus to temporary housing and civic infrastructure, we were drawn to the challenge of creating a system that could restore stability and connection during a time of crisis. The site, the decommissioned Santa Monica Airport, spans 158 acres and is slated for future redevelopment into a park. In the interim, we were asked to imagine a temporary city for 3,000 households. One that could serve displaced residents as their neighborhoods are rebuilt and later remain in use as a visitor’s village during the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Re: Commons reframes crisis as a generative space of action, not as a void between destruction and permanence, but as a spatial and social condition in its own right. Drawing from longhouse typologies, we looked to models of shared thresholds, adaptability, and interdependence. This became the foundation for our housing system, which aims to balance autonomy and community through flexible, modular design.

Our mission was to create a housing framework where small unit sizes form the basis for evolving community living. Two alternating unit types are deployed along a raised platform that overlays the existing runway. When placed adjacently, the units can be altered to expand interior space and create shared domestic zones. This platform serves not only as infrastructure but as a secondary communal ground that organizes the site and supports gathering, orientation, and expansion. As more units are introduced, the system branches outward to form clusters. Each cluster connects to green spaces, shared amenities, and neighborhood-scale services through a branching geometry. These pathways enable a gradient of public, semi-private, and private spaces. Through this aggregation strategy, the design encourages informal support networks while maintaining individual dignity and adaptability over time. The entire system is designed to be scalable, relocatable, and dismantlable.

Housing units can be repurposed as accessory dwelling units, Olympic housing with solar infrastructure, or even reconfigured as reforestation nurseries. These second and third lives ensure that the system does not end when rebuilding is complete but continues to serve long-term civic and environmental needs. In this project, we see transitional housing not as a placeholder, but as a critical framework for connection, care, and collective resilience. The project seeks to restore a sense of rootedness in moments of displacement, while offering a flexible architecture that adapts with its community.