Muchas Casitas is a mixed-use project with ground-floor commercial space and multifamily housing. The project is composed as a set of maisonettes scattered utop a plynth, orienting themselves to views, sun orientation, and to collective outdoor spaces. The form of the maisonettes are abstractions of archetypal Los Angeles homes. Each maisonette has an internal courtyard which The space in-between maisonettes serves as a collective outdoor space for both the residents and public. The result is high density that appears as low density. 

Formally, the volumetric composition is crafted through carved apertures and courtyards. This house-iconography is playfully explored in this project, where the sculptural form provides light deep into the maisonettes through large subtractions in the roof and sliding of the building skin. This metaphor is extended to the treatment of the project as a whole, to appear not as a block but a cluster or grouping of houses. Through the exploration of field conditions, playful formal strategies, and traditional dichotomies the project generates housing that is high density that appears as low density.