Alta 5550

The historic buildings set the locations for the project’s two extensive courtyards.

PROJECT SUMMARY
Client:       Wood Partners
Landscape: Mark Tessier Landscape Architecture
Location:  5550 W. Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90028
Units:        280 Market Rate Housing Units
Size:          461,143 GSF (206,657 Residential NSF) (12,030 Retail NSF)
Density:    147 du/ac
Cost:          $53,000,000 ($125 per GSF)
Funding:   Private Funding
Status:      Completed 2018

Located in the heart of Hollywood, the project site contained two existing historic buildings that were required to be incorporated into the design scheme: a two-story building remained in its entirety while the single-story façade of the other remained.  The project’s vision was also its challenge: to seamlessly incorporate the existing historic components, a high quantity of apartments and a variety of amenities into a unified whole emblematic of the immediate architectural context.  To accomplish this, the architectural design drew from a typical 1920’s apartment building composition of U-shaped courtyards that enable access to light.  The existing historic buildings set the locations for the project’s two extensive courtyards, each with a distinct identity; one envisioned to be active and vibrant, the other passive and serene.  The active courtyard, designed to accommodate large group events, is aligned with the one-story building façade, while the passive courtyard, geared toward quiet activities, is aligned with the two-story building.  The active courtyard offers a swimming pool, chaise lounges, picnic tables, BBQ’s and lounge seating, and complements the adjacent interior program including kitchen, multi-purpose room and additional lounge areas.  The quiet courtyard, geared toward working from home, offers work pods with small conference tables.  The adjacent interior program includes a quiet reading area and meeting rooms available for reservation.  Additional amenities include:  fitness room, screening room, yoga studio and spinning studio.  Both north-facing courtyards open up to a pleasant view of the Santa Monica mountains.  Three stories of parking complete the building program.