Mariposa Avenue Apartments, a low income multi-family housing project in the heart of East Hollywood, was completed in the spring of 2009 for Hollywood Community Housing Corporation (HCHC). The building, designed by Richard Barron Architects, is the new home of HCHC, a new police substation, and a community accessible Laundromat.

The building features an interior courtyard over the parking structure with raised planters containing a lush, tropical palette that includes Coral Trees and Queen Palms; agaves, ornamental grasses, and flowering lantana.

The perimeter of the building, a much more drought tolerant design, includes bold, textural plantings of crape myrtle, silk floss, dragon, and bronze loquat trees with understory plantings of native grasses, spear lilies, and succulents.

Also integrated in the design is a green method of water reclamation where the downspouts from the roof of the building are diverted into bioswales planted with grasses that filter the rainwater and allow it to gently percolate into the earth to recharge the groundwater systems. Download (PDF)