INFO - SOTO WALL

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SOTO STREET IMPROVEMENT

Urban Improvement, Present

Los Angeles, CA

The project is an urban improvement design that stretches miles on Soto St. We identified our main objectives consisting of an overall beautification using a green wall, break down the scale of the wall into a process of layering, texture, and vegetation, develop general design character through place-making, avoid monotony through variation, and minimize graffiti.

Welded wire mesh can function as both a deterrent for graffiti and as a scaffolding for vegetation. We considered a density of mesh that is not so small that it creates a new surface for tagging graffiti, but not so large that someone could easily reach through to tag the wall beyond. Welded wire mesh is also an economical solution for a project of this scale. The board-formed texture extends from the language of the folded panels as an additional strategy to provide variation to the wall, relate to the human-scale, and discourage graffiti.

Project Credits:

Principal Architects:

Dwayne Oyler

Jenny Wu

Project Leaders:

Owen Duross

Design Team:

Mike Piscitello, Jacques Lesec,

Paul Cambon, Huy Le, Nathan Myer, Dan Hutchins, Jian Huang, Michael Chung, Vincent Yeh, Ehab Ghali, Sanjay Sukie, Chris Eskew,

Matt Evans, Harrison Steinbuch, Hans Koesters, Lung Chi Chang, Zack Mathews

There are many benefits for incorporating a green wall into the scheme that solve both aesthetic and pragmatic issues ofminimizing graffiti. We realize that the scale of the wall is too vast to try to solve the entire problem with one contiguousvegetative wall. The more labor intensive green wall systems seem impractical from a maintenance perspective and the morenaturally growing vine-type would leave the wall vulnerable to graffiti for too long. We’ve considered an application of vegetation that is more strategic and integrated to a design that can overcome aesthetic and pragmatic challenges from the beginning.