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Thatcher Yard, Thomas Safran & Associates
Los Angeles, CA
Filling in the gaps.
An affordable urban infill development bridges the divide for at-risk populations.
Sensitive to residents—and to context
Located in Venice, a popular beachside neighborhood in LA’s Westside, Thatcher Yard is an affordable and permanent supportive housing development that transforms a former sanitation yard into high-quality housing for economically-challenged seniors, families, and individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.

By targeting previously undeveloped or underdeveloped urban infill sites, projects like Thatcher Yard create new, critically-needed affordable and permanent supportive housing without displacing current residents, demolishing existing housing or raising the cost of living. Instead, members of these at-risk, often disenfranchised populations are welcomed into an existing community and supported through a network of relationships, social services and care.

For Thatcher Yard, HED’s team was charged with creating an affordable housing design that sits comfortably amidst the surrounding high-end and market-rate housing. To meet this challenge, we crafted an affordable housing product type that is not only sensitive to surrounding context as a whole, but actually responds to multiple adjacent housing types on specific sides of the development. The resulting design is a triumph of site and urban planning.

Equally responsive to context, Thatcher Yard’s roofline rises 3 stories to meet the five-story buildings to the east before angling down to the height of the neighboring single-family homes. This design strategy not only protects the neighborhood’s famed ocean views, but also ensures that the height of the development aligns with adjacent structures on either side.

Upon completion, Thatcher Yard will provide 98 total units—98 new homes—for high-risk and chronically homeless seniors, individuals and families, providing a sense of place, security, connection, and hope.
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Results
Thatcher Yard provides 68 affordable senior housing units and 30 affordable housing units. 50% of the units are permanent supportive housing for those experiencing chronic homelessness.
Family and individual units include 12 one-bedroom units, ten two-bedroom units, and eight three-bedroom units.
By imbuing the west side of the development with the porous, spacious feel of single-family housing, HED created the impression of individual houses, echoing the large, high-end houses that border the site.
The development’s highly-articulated east façade conveys a strong sense of movement that parallels adjacent multi-family housing.
A nod to the area’s traditional design aesthetic, the development’s exterior features shingle siding and white-painted trim.
Project Data
Thatcher Yard 2018-04016-000
Thomas Safran & Associates
Los Angeles, California
PROJECT SCOPE
New Construction
HED ROLE
Executive Architect
RSF/GSF
127,959
CONSTRUCTION COST
$39.0 Million
SUSTAINABILITY LEVEL
    LEED Certified
Project Team
  • Jerome (Otis) Odell
    AIA, LEED AP
    Principal
    Business Leader | Housing and Mixed-Use
  • Catherine Araga
    AIA, LEED AP BD+C
    Associate
    Project Management
  • Taeko Welty
    Associate
    Design
  • Keith Tyschper
    AIA, LEED AP
    Principal
    Technical Architecture Leader
  • Jianning Zhong
    LEED Green Associate
    Design
  • Niccolo Boldrin
    AIA, NCARB
    Associate Principal
    Sector Leader
An affordable urban infill development bridges the divide for at-risk populations.
Thatcher Yard, Thomas Safran & Associates
Los Angeles, CA
PROJECT DATA
PROJECT TEAM
Filling in the gaps.