FreelandBuck

Our UnStack house presented unique site challenges, pushing us to reimagine how hillside homes can coexist with the landscape. Rather than being perched above, this home is thoughtfully embedded into the hillside, making the most of its natural contours. These constraints allowed us to create an uninterrupted connection with the land, offering sweeping views of the San Gabriel Mountains and a seamless interior-to-exterior transition. Click through to see the process—from early construction to a residential design fully embracing its surroundings. Development: URBANITE HOMES LLC Marieke Ochtman Structural Engineering: Nous Engineering Matthew Melnyk S.E. Team: David Freeland and Brennan Buck

California Assembly Bill 2011, enacted in 2022, is a key initiative to tackle the state’s housing crisis by permitting affordable and mixed-income housing on commercially zoned land. This opens millions of potential commercial sites for new housing opportunities. Our proposal explores the financial and architectural possibilities of AB 2011 alongside AB 2097, which eliminates parking requirements. We identified hundreds of potential housing development sites behind existing commercial buildings in northeast Los Angeles, previously considered undeveloped. Depending on lot size, each site could host between 7 and 40 new housing units. #HousingCrisis #UrbanDevelopment #CaliforniaLegislation #AffordableHousing #ArchitectureDesign

With the completion of our UnStack House project, we’ve developed four distinct living scenarios highlighting the informal versatility of overlapping rooms stepping up the hillside. Here, we highlight the versatility of the third level: 1. A single-family setup with two kids and a dedicated upstairs office 2. A two-family configuration featuring separate living rooms and offices 3. Co-housing for five roommates, complete with two shared offices 4. A co-parenting arrangement for two families, offering downstairs living with an upstairs office and playroom

We're pleased to share the early development of 'Down By the River,' a permanent 10'x26' Lightbox installation set to debut at Gruene Station in Gruene, TX. This work samples a series of maps to create an enormous image of the Guadeloupe River. Installation is scheduled for later this month—stay tuned for more updates.

We’re excited to announce the completion of a set of abstract benches commissioned for Gruene Station in Gruene, Texas. A special thank you to The Future Workshop for their collaboration and craftsmanship in bringing our vision to life and expertly fabricating these unique designs.

Last week, we were honored to participate in the Yale School of Architecture book launch for Perspecta 56: Not Found. Our essay, "Zombie Perspective," and many others, was selected to be part of the issue, which explores architecture as a form of concealment and obfuscation in engendering new ways of understanding, conceptualizing, and reshaping the world.

Exploring three innovative structural typologies and facade systems for an affordable multi-family housing project to accommodate both co-housing communities and market-rate apartments. The prototypes feature a robust timber frame with extensive shear walls and a central core; a Type-5 wood frame with lightweight cantilevered balconies and a metal mesh screen façade; and a cross-laminated timber (CLT) outer shell with strategically placed CLT shear walls and core. Each approach blends sustainability, functionality, and modern design, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in affordable housing.

We're excited to share that our project, Tunnel Vision, has been selected as the CODAworx CODAwards Winner for the Institutional category! Funded by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) as part of a capital project for the new Metro VA Office Building, this layered conical structure is suspended 10 feet above the ground, 10 feet tall, and 14 feet wide. It is crafted from printed aluminum and illuminated with LED lighting. From the initial worm-eye sketches to projection mapping and 3D rendering, this artwork dramatizes a single station's one-point perspective, creating a captivating visual experience.  Thank you to our fantastic FB team, Luiza De Souza, Zane Mechem and Nous Engineering Hades Construction Pixelumen Lab for bringing the vision to life, and Kevin K. for capturing the photos. View the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eFn7uWZy To view our other projects: https://lnkd.in/eD5f3S7C

Our UnStack House project, currently under construction on a steeply sloped lot in northeast Los Angeles, features a dynamic cascading box design that shifts and rotates as they descend the hillside. This "unstacked" arrangement creates layered outdoor spaces that seamlessly weave into the landscape, offering terraces and vistas at multiple levels. Stay tuned as this distinctive vision comes to life!

Excited to announce the completion of our new public art installation. This project was funded by WMATA as part of a capital project for the new Metro VA Office Building. Tunnel Vision is three-dimensional image of the iconic Harry Weese-designed coffered metro stations that make up Washington’s transit network Thanks to all those involved in this work! Photography: Kevin Kunstadt @toomanyphotosintheworld Freelandbuck Team: Zane Mechem, Luiza De Souza @zanemechem @bubluza Structural Engineer: Nous Engineering @nousla Fabrication: Hades Construction @hadesconstruction Lighting Consultant: David Ghatan @pixelumenlab