Foundations for the Future

This project proposes a medium-term housing and public infrastructure strategy for residents displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires, reimagining the decommissioned Santa Monica Airport as a temporary city for 1,000 households.

Prioritizing rapid deployment, modularity, and future adaptability, the proposal utilizes 3D-printed footings and foundations that transition into landscape features—planters, benches, and water elements—anticipated to serve the future Santa Monica Park.

Organized as a phased, standardized system with minimal reliance on existing infrastructure, the project embeds social and ecological infrastructure into its spatial logic, maintaining community proximity to schools and services while foregrounding resilience and reuse. As temporary dwellings are dismantled, the residual foundations reconstitute a civic landscape, reframing emergency architecture as a generative framework for long-term environmental and social regeneration.