This Prefab Apartment Building in L.A. Tests a New Vision for Housing
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Over time, Aaron van Schaik’s career in residential real estate development left him baffled. He saw how inefficiencies made the construction process more expensive, and that results were often bland and uninspired. "Housing is the largest asset class in the world, but the current production process is like if Toyota designed a custom car for every buyer and then assembled it in the customer’s driveway," he says.
In 2020, van Schaik founded SuperLA, a design and development startup seeking to redefine how we build homes. They create repeatable designs for multifamily buildings constructed with a panelized system made of cross-laminated timber (CLT). The system seeks to prioritize occupant and planetary health, says van Schaik, as well as design and construction efficiencies.
Excluding the private terraces, the one-bed, one-bath bungalows are 660 square feet, while the two-bed, two-bath units total 1,320 square feet.
SuperLA’s first housing development is an apartment complex in L.A.’s Silver Lake neighborhood called SuperBungalows. Opened in March, the building stands out as the first CLT multifamily project built in Southern California. It contains nine rental units with private terraces and no shared walls, plus outdoor common spaces and a host of energy efficient details.
At a time when Los Angeles direly needs more affordable housing, this development offers units listed well above the average for the area. SuperBungalows’s one-bed, one-bath units ask $4,250 per month, while two and twos are $6,750. (The median in Silver Lake is around $2,500 for a one-bed apartment, according to listing services.) Van Schaik recognizes that this means they aren’t accessible to everyone, but hopes that future developments can accommodate a wider income set.
Here, van Schaik shares how he created SuperBungalows, and how SuperLA is putting its new multifamily housing plan into action.
Each rental comes with its own patio, a design feature inspired by Los Angeles’s original bungalows.
What is SuperBungalows and how does it stand apart from other multifamily buildings in Los Angeles?
SuperBungalows represents the completed first step in our mission to usher in a new era of housing. We wanted to bring a housing product to market that we believe represents everything that housing should be: occupant focused, while working in collaboration with the planet.
The building’s design is a modern take on bungalow court homes that incorporates what makes these designs great. The homes have no shared walls, feature large private terraces, multiple communal gardens, open-air walkways and stairs, and a ridiculous amount of light and air.
What kind of occupants is the development meant for?
Living in a home that prioritizes your well-being is good for everyone. While we as a society heavily invest in health and wellness, we don’t necessarily see the place that we live—our home—as part of that equation. At SuperLA, we deeply believe the spaces you occupy have a tremendous impact on how you feel. That’s why everything we do is designed to help people understand that their home is the foundation for their well-being.
The SuperBungalow finishes and fixtures include RBW lighting, Capri cork flooring, wood finishes from Roseburg, plywood cabinetry, Mosa tile, and Pella windows.
Can you provide some context around pricing?
Our SuperBungalows on Marathon Street started at $4,250 per month for the one-bedroom, one-bathroom model, and $6,750 for the two bedroom, two bathroom. We released the nine SuperBungalows to market in mid-March and fully leased the building within weeks at full ask and with no incentives offered on rent; all traffic was brought to our building by word of mouth and social media. While these homes are for rent, we will also be offering others for purchase in the future.
The SuperBungalows development is 100-percent electric, including kitchen appliances supplied by Fisher & Paykel.
Why did you leverage CLT and prefab construction for this project?
CLT checks off multiple boxes at both our product and process level.
Reconnecting our occupants with nature is a primary focus for us. Over recent years there have been many studies completed that demonstrate the benefits associated with exposed timber within the spaces that we occupy and the positive impacts it has on how we feel.
CLT is made from timber, which is a renewable material. Although timber needs to be harvested, if as a society we implement and mandate responsible forestry practices, we can replant those trees and essentially grow more CLT. Unlike concrete which requires burning more fossil fuels than timber to be produced, and steel, which requires a blast furnace and fossil fuels, both of which release carbon into the atmosphere, trees actually capture carbon as they grow, acting as carbon sinks. When a tree is harvested, that carbon remains stored in the timber for its life.
CLT also fits within our focus of panelizing our builds in order to optimize construction time. In addition to using prefabricated wall frames, CLT allows us to panelize our floor and roof components, enabling us to fully realize the speed efficiency of panelizing an entire building.
SuperLA prioritized recycled and renewable materials like cork flooring, Grenite countertops, and cross-laminated timber for the structure.
Are there plans to create more developments in L.A. or expand to different parts of the country or world?
We are currently focused on the L.A. market, however we have plans to open up our product to other cities and communities across the U.S. in the coming years. Making this available globally is not out of the question either, but right now we are hyper-focused on executing the best homes possible starting here in Los Angeles.
Every unit features operable aluminum- and timber-framed windows.
How do you see this development affecting the future of housing in Los Angeles?
Our number one focus is to usher in a new era of housing. We hope that we’re providing a blueprint for the industry to improve how we design and build homes.
The development’s private terraces and shared outdoor spaces are inspired by the city’s traditional bungalows.
What do you think it will take to overcome the city’s housing shortage?
The housing shortage that many cities and countries around the world are experiencing is an extremely complex issue. We need more housing of all types and forms, period.
Unless we make a radical change in the way we design and deliver housing, we will continue to chase and fail to meet housing goals. The current housing supply model is fundamentally broken.
By designing and developing housing as a product, and then panelizing the homes using prefabricated components, housing in all forms can be designed, permitted, and constructed significantly faster and with layers of costs deleted.
The SuperBungalows project has a rooftop solar system that powers the common areas.
The project uses mass-timber elements like CLT and Glulam, which are more sustainable materials than steel or concrete.
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