Miramar Housing Los Angeles, CA

The Miramar on 3rd demonstrates how inventive design and strategic development can transform overlooked parcels into catalytic architecture for the city. Situated along a busy Koreatown corridor, the eight-story building redefines what mid-rise housing can be both an architectural object and a contributor to the public realm. At a time when Los Angeles faces a housing crisis, mid-rise apartments often default to formulaic construction: boxy forms, flat façades, and little engagement with their surroundings. Miramar resists this pattern. Its scalloped double façade creates depth, shadow, and movement, turning a 310-foot-long elevation into a dynamic urban canvas. The perforated metal skin modulates light and privacy, offering residents critical shading while projecting an animated face to the street. By pushing and pulling the façade, the building gains both environmental performance and civic expression, reframing the idea of what “affordable” can look like. The design is as pragmatic as it is poetic. At the heart of the building, the façade carves inward to form a breezeway that connects 3rd Street to a lush garden beyond, a gesture that inserts daylight, views, and air circulation deep into the building while also giving the public a glimpse of interior life. The ground plane extends this generosity with new landscapes and urban design moves that activate the sidewalk, reinforcing the city’s commitment to a more vibrant, walkable Los Angeles. Equally innovative is the project’s origin story. During renovation of an adjacent senior housing tower, Brooks + Scarpa identified an untapped opportunity: a lot split that transformed an underutilized strip of land into the site for 134 new apartments. This simple but radical act of reframing the property’s potential demonstrated to the client how thoughtful design thinking could also generate economic value, leveraging real estate strategy to advance urban density and housing supply. Sustainability underpins every move. The dual façade mitigates solar gain, while cross-ventilation strategies reduce reliance on mechanical systems. The project engages its hillside site responsibly, with careful attention to drainage, shading, and materials. Landscape design reinforces ecological resilience while offering residents spaces of respite within a dense urban setting. In sum, The Miramar on 3rd is more than housing. It is a demonstration of how design can elevate development, how development can activate community, and how architecture can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Its lessons—about density, ingenuity, and the public realm—are both timely and transferable, making it a model for cities across the country.

Brooks + Scarpa Miramar Housing

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