Electric Avenue Garage Los Angeles Auto Shop Building, Social Studies Projects California Architecture Photos
Electric Avenue Auto Shop, Silver Lake, Los Angeles
Sep 28 2021
Location: 2300 Hyperion Avenue, Silver Lake, east-central Los Angeles, California, USA
Electric Avenue Auto Shop, Los Angeles, Los Angeles
Architect: Social Studies Projects (SSP)

Photos by Leela Cyd
Electric Avenue Los Angeles Auto Shop Building
The owners of Electric Car Garage invited Social Studies Projects (SSP) to design a freestanding pavilion to be used as a waiting room for clients and a lunch room for mechanics. Inspired by greenhouse structures, SSP designed a simple red steel framework clad in twinwall polycarbonate panels keeping the interior bright, while gently obscuring the surrounding parking lot from view.
Open clerestories provide natural ventilation. To complement the signature red of the structure, SSP designed a suite of tables, benches and cabinets for the interior, powder coated in coral and goldenrod. Using simple materials, steel and polycarbonate, SSP wanted to create a shaded social area where clients and mechanics would gather.

Material and color were key to achieving this oasis effect. The wall framing was structured for Los Angeles? warm weather by allowing for open clerestories providing cross ventilation for the space. The structure effectively obscures the view of surrounding cars being worked on in the garage once inside. The twinwall polycarbonate was a great solu...