American firms NAC Architecture and Bernards have used shipping containers to form private apartments in a Los Angeles facility for people experiencing homelessness.
The Hilda L Solis Care First Village ? formerly known as the Vignes Street Interim Housing Project ? is located on a 4.2-acre (1.7-hectare) site in Downtown Los Angeles. The complex is named after Hilda L Solis, who chairs the LA County Board of Supervisors.
The Hilda L Solis Care First Village is located close to Downtown Los Angeles
The facility was created by NAC Architecture, which has several offices in the US, and California-based Bernards, a builder and construction management company. The firms worked in collaboration with LA County's Department of Public Works.
Owned by the county, the site formerly held a parking lot and was slated to become a staging area for the construction of a new jail. The complex comprises three-storey buildings created by stacking shipping containers
In 2019, plans shifted, as officials began to explore options for using the site for homeless housing. Reports estimate there are at least 60,000 people in the LA area who are experiencing homelessness.
When the coronavirus pandemic struck last year, the county moved forward with the housing plans.

"With the unhoused population growing and increasingly at risk during Covid-19, the need was immediate," the team said. "Schedule became a critical driver."
For the irregularly shaped site, the team conceived a seri...