Inside there\u2019s a sense of calm, order and welcome \u2014 flying in the face of what is, in many cases, a sterile, institutional environment. Glass garage doors bring in natural light and when lifted open the space to the Woodlands\u2019 courtyard \u2014 a former parking lot invigorated with, among other things, colorful paint, light landscaping, outdoor furnishings and (not quite enough) shade structures.<\/p>\n
The classrooms are also bathed in daylight via skylights and clerestories, with sunbeams touching the playfully angled surfaces. Pastel tones and playful graphics stretch across walls and floors. Bathrooms are child-scaled, with bright tiles and whimsical signage. Retractable doors open onto a small pink and green courtyard, and, around the corner, a larger play space shaded by the building\u2019s kaleidoscopic canopy. There are nooks and benches for quiet reading and wide communal tables for group projects.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The new 4,500-square-foot Betty Bazar Community Resource Center meeting space and early childhood learning center on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, designed by Eagle Rock-based Kadre Architects.<\/p>\n
(Paul Vu)<\/p>\n
The school, now functioning in a limited capacity, is still awaiting its license to operate full-time. CCRC Early Care and Learning Division Director Betty Zamorano-Pedregon says that should move ahead in just a few weeks. When it does, it will accommodate about 60 preschoolers at a time, for at least eight hours a day. For many parents at the Woodlands, childcare had been an impossible barrier, added Zamorano-Pedregon. Without it, they couldn\u2019t work, attend job training, or even attend medical appointments. On a typical morning, parents here can simply walk their children across the courtyard to their classrooms. While kids spend the morning playing and learning, parents may head next door to classes and workshops in the community center wing. By late afternoon, families can spill into the outdoor courtyard and play space, or linger in the communal hall. On weekends, the community space already hosts birthday parties, support groups, and community movie nights.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really about building a complete social mobility ecosystem,\u201d says Ken Craft, CEO of Hope the Mission. \u201cFamilies don\u2019t just need a roof; they need childcare, job skills, therapy and community. This building is where it all comes together.\u201d Residents describe the center as the \u201cliving room\u201d of the Woodlands. Funding has been approved to add two mobile classrooms, which Kadre will play a role in sprucing up, said Zamorano-Pedregon.<\/p>\n
For Kadribegovic, the project has personal resonance, adding to his sense of urgency. Raised in Sarajevo during the brutal breakup of Yugoslavia, he fled the Bosnian war as a teenager. His family, once middle-class professionals, were suddenly displaced \u2014 navigating life in refugee camps and temporary housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat experience never leaves you,\u201d he says. \u201cYou understand what it means to lose everything, to depend on strangers, to feel like stability is impossible. When I design for families coming out of homelessness, I remember those feelings. Architecture can give people dignity and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kadre has become a specialist in emergency and transitional housing in Southern California. The Woodlands is one of five properties it has transformed \u2014 with eight more in progress \u2014 as part of the $3.78-billion Project Homekey initiative \u2014 launched in 2020 to fast-track the conversion of motels, hotels and other distressed properties into housing for people experiencing homelessness. (Their community centers, like Betty Bazar, are not funded by Homekey.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The interior of Betty Bazar Community Resource Center meeting space and early childhood learning center on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, designed by Eagle Rock-based Kadre Architects.<\/p>\n
(Paul Vu)<\/p>\n
While each project differs according to site, budget and constraints, design strategies across the board include dynamic patterns, active outdoor spaces and targeted architectural interventions, from skylights to introduce natural light to shaded balconies and patios. Kadre has transformed a Lyfe Inn in MacArthur Park (now the Alvarado), a Sands Motel and Tropics Motel in Lancaster (the Sierra), and Tropicana Motel in Compton (the Lemon House), which sits next to Kadre\u2019s recently completed Compton Community Center, a folded, bright yellow and white space for supportive services replacing a storefront next to an existing transitional housing facility. Future work includes permanent supportive housing in Hollywood and community centers in Palmdale, North Hills and Lancaster.<\/p>\n
Few buildings within Homekey \u2014 where design criteria generally takes a back seat to practical concerns, said Kadribegovic \u2014 have the exuberance that Kadre has given them, despite extremely tight funding and timelines. The Woodlands took nine months from award to end of construction and cost $4.5 million, he said. Since its existing motel rooms were already in decent condition, a decision was made to only lightly touch them. So the major interventions went to new office and support spaces and outdoor common spaces. Even then, the firm could remove only a small portion of the parking lot\u2019s asphalt, lest they trigger local low-impact development codes. (The bright colors act as cooling agents on what would otherwise be a baking blacktop.) Even now the team is fighting for more \u2014 at Betty Bazar\u2019s recent ribbon cutting, the team got a commitment from a state senator to fund more shade structures, said Kadribegovic.<\/p>\n
The work, by definition, can\u2019t be perfect, which is a challenge in a field (architecture) full of perfectionists.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to let go of certain things. You have to be real,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to understand what\u2019s at stake here. We\u2019re going to make it the best it can be and we\u2019re going to get those people housed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The extra emphasis on design, against the odds, softens the landing in each neighborhood, he adds. \u201cNeighbors feared crime, blight and property devaluation. But when they saw what we designed \u2014 colorful, open, safe, full of life \u2014 many opponents became supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it can be the difference between hope and dejection at what is a very precarious time for most families.<\/p>\n
\u201cA child who grows up in a place filled with light and joy will carry that feeling forever,\u201d says Kadribegovic. Craft notes that both the Woodlands and Betty Bazar are just first steps. \u201cThis is not a landing pad \u2014 it\u2019s a launching pad,\u201d he says. \u201cA place where families can rebuild their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a stretch of Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, where cars whip by at 50 miles per hour…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":253486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[133851,9102,1582,276,9352,246,1258,133854,2609,133848,2961,133849,224,5337,102577,133850,9083,133852,133853,38618],"class_list":{"0":"post-253485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-betty-bazar","9":"tag-building","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-courtyard","13":"tag-family","14":"tag-funding","15":"tag-group-project","16":"tag-hope","17":"tag-kadre","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-lively-community-center","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-many-parent","23":"tag-nerin-kadribegovic","24":"tag-parking-lot","25":"tag-skylight","26":"tag-transitional-housing-unit","27":"tag-woodlands"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115264723991971693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}