UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Code Manipulation: Architecture In-Between Universal and Specific Urban Space Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7660x051 Author Dahl, Per-Johan Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Code Manipulation: Architecture In-Between Universal and Specific Urban Space A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture by Per-Johan Dahl 2012 © Copyright by Per-Johan Dahl 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Code Manipulation: Architecture In-Between Universal and Specific Urban Space By Per-Johan Dahl Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Dana Cuff, Chair Experiences from both academia and practice demonstrate that the legal instruments that comprise the primary tool for carrying out city planning in the U.S. have grown increasingly complex and abstract. Processing the universal rather than the specific aspects of urbanism, these zoning codes have a limited capacity to adapt to local significance and site-specific characteristics, to which architecture is much more responsive, and thus often constrain design innovation. Although various attempts have been made to improve the interconnection between the universal and the specific, we need a wider array of analytic frameworks within the discipline of architecture for evaluating the broader implications of the codes that regulate the form and use of buildings within the context of contemporary city planning. Taking architecture as an intermediary instrument, this study develops the notion of code manipulation as an analytical framework to be used for stimulating and evaluating designs beyond the constraints of code. ii Investigation of three housing projects, and the urban contexts from which they arise, expands our understanding of how the manipulation of zoning codes can be used as a generative material for the design of architecture, as well as how this procedure can both advance the production of disciplinary knowledge, and catalyse urban transformation. A loft conversion in Greenwich Village (1967-1970); an accessory dwelling unit in Venice, California (2006-2009); and a real estate development along the High Line in New York City (2005-2011) represent diverse attempts to employ code manipulation to mediate between the universal and the specific aspects of urbanism, while, at the same time, informing the making of cities through innovative design. Comparative analysis reveals how architects can explore solutions in opposition to zoning provision, and how code manipulation can serve to inform policy makers about lucrative potentials and tendencies being repressed by their own rules. Demonstrating a range of outcomes strengthens the argument that conventional zoning controls hamper architectural responses to the shifting premises of urban life. Seeking to reinforce architecture’s role in the making of cities, this research explicates the potentials of code manipulation to establish new interconnections between universal and specific urban space. iii The dissertation of Per-Johan Dahl is approved. Neil M. Denari Sylvia Lavin Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris Dana Cuff, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... xii VITA............................................................................................................................................ xiv CHAPTER 1: Positioning Architecture in the Realm of City Planning Regulation ........................................1 CODES AND ARCHITECTURE .......................................................................................7 ZONING AND THE SPECIFIC........................................................................................18 ZONING AND CITY ........................................................................................................25 ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM .............................................................................35 HOW TO MANIPULATE THE CODE: INTRODUCING THE CASE STUDIES.........43 CHAPTER 2: Code Rejecters: The Story of Westbeth and the Architecture of the Loft..........................49 Abstract..................................................................................................................49 Framing and Methodology.....................................................................................50 THE FORMATION OF A SPACE ...................................................................................51 Code Manipulation, Lifestyle, and Domesticity....................................................54 Raw Spaces ............................................................................................................57 The Janus of Modernism .......................................................................................60 Towards Legality ...................................................................................................69 v The Story of Westbeth ...........................................................................................77 CONCEPTUALIZING THE LOFT .................................................................................85 From Urbanism to Architecture.............................................................................85 Windows and Bedrooms........................................................................................89 Abstract Lines ........................................................................................................95 LOFT ARCHITECTURE ................................................................................................101 The Power of Types.............................................................................................101 Tracing the Architecture of the Loft ....................................................................106 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................109 FIGURES.........................................................................................................................113 CHAPTER 3: Code Frontiers: Exploring the Backyards of L.A...................................................................130 Abstract................................................................................................................130 Framing and Methodology...................................................................................131 DISCOVERIES AND POTENTIALS.............................................................................133 The Unveiled Assets ............................................................................................136 cityLAB’s Pacoima..............................................................................................137 From Pacoima to L.A...........................................................................................144 POSTSUBURBAN TENDENCIES ................................................................................147 Three Photos ........................................................................................................147 Interiorized Urbanism ..........................................................................................153 The Prototype.......................................................................................................157 vi EXCEEDING THE CONVENTION...............................................................................165 Learning from the R2...........................................................................................165 Palms Residence ..................................................................................................170 The Backyard Home ............................................................................................173 Rs and 1s..............................................................................................................177 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................182 FIGURES.........................................................................................................................188 CHAPTER 4: Code Invaders: HL23 and the Flexible Envelope ...................................................................206 Abstract................................................................................................................206 Framing and Methodology...................................................................................207 THE INTERLOCKING ASPECTS OF ZONING ..........................................................208 Code Manipulation and the Shape of Real Estate................................................210 The Site ................................................................................................................210 The Amendments.................................................................................................214 Site Specific Envelopes........................................................................................223