Los Angeles Community Center and Gardens

The Los Angeles Community Center and Gardens was inspired by the Los Angeles wildfires and the city's food deserts. As an LA resident, I have seen how these issues have a substantial impact on the lives and futures of the LA community. This design provides a public space where people can support each other in healing from tragic events and bond around a shared objective: growing food. This project includes indoor and outdoor gathering spaces and about 680 sq ft of land for planting food.

Digital Model: Tinkercad (Tinkercad model Link )

Physical Model:

1. 3D Printer and PLA filament
2. Paint
3. 2-ply gray chipboard
4. Toothpicks
5. Dirt
6. Variety of plants
7. Fake moss

When thinking about community recovery, I knew I wanted to address the Los Angeles wildfires and food insecurity in many neighborhoods across LA.

I was inspired by a documentary I watched about the 2025 Palisades fire called Big Rock Burning. What stood out to me in this documentary was how the Big Rock community relied on and supported one another during this time of hardship. It was also amazing to see how this community came together to fight for change and prevent similar disasters in the future. This documentary inspired me to create a community center that provides a space for people to gather and heal emotionally.

Another point of inspiration for me was a podcast episode by The Food Fight Podcast that mentioned food deserts, which are urban areas where it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. This lack of fresh food leads to detrimental health outcomes in these neighborhoods. Community gardens are one way to tackle these issues by providing local, affordable, and nutritious produce directly to underserved neighborhoods. These spaces also effectively bring people together by providing a shared setting where people from diverse backgrounds and experiences collaborate to achieve a common goal.

When developing my design, I knew that I wanted an open, community-centered space. I achieved this by prioritizing two main things: having both indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, and ensuring multiple points of entry on the ground floor.

After finalizing the community center concept through sketching, I further developed the design using 3D modeling. Through 3D modeling, I was able to flesh out the building's details, including the placement and shape of windows, the placement and number of raised beds, and the building's scale.

I wanted my design to promote healing through prioritizing rounded corners and natural light. This choice is supported by the research article “Spaces That Speak: How Architecture Shapes Human Emotion, Behavior, and Well-Being”, which concludes that there are “strong correlations between architectural forms such as curvilinear shapes and balanced proportions and positive emotional outcomes like calmness and pleasure.” Additionally, the article states that “architectural stimuli like natural lighting and tactile materials were statistically linked to increased social interaction, behavioral comfort, and frequent use of communal spaces.” Therefore, curved geometries in the architecture and natural lighting are critical to achieving the goal of creating a healing community gathering space. Article Link

For the community garden, I decided to use raised beds around the structure and planters in the building's second-floor outdoor space. I decided to use raised beds because they provide soil control, healthier harvests, and pest control.

To make this structure sustainable, I decided to incorporate solar energy and utilize sustainable building materials.

I decided to incorporate solar power because it is a clean, renewable energy source that emits no greenhouse gases during operation.

For the structure's materials, I wanted to use sustainable, fire-resistant options such as Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). CLT is more sustainable than other common construction materials, such as concrete, because it sequesters carbon rather than releasing it and requires less energy to manufacture. Cross-laminated timber is also highly fire-resistant because it forms a slow-burning, insulating char layer that protects the building's structural integrity.

Lastly, once the design was finalized and modeled in TinkerCad, I created a physical model to further visualize the design, especially when produce is being grown in the gardens.

The physical model was created by the following steps.

1. Preparing 3D files and printing the model
2. Painting the 3D prints
3. Collecting dirt and plants for raised bed elements.
4. Assembling raised beds
5. Mixed glue with dirt and placed it into the raised bed
6. Cut and place plants into the dirt to resemble crops growing
7. Adding wooden elements
8. Cut and glued toothpicks onto the model.
9. Assembling parts
10. Assembled the structure by gluing windows, solar panels, and planters onto the main structure
11. Create base
12. Cut 2-ply gray chip board as the abse
13. Painted a mixture of glue and fake moss onto the base to resemble grass