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Unbuilding Crenshaw Discount Store


Harvard Graduate School of Design

Module 2 Studio for Spring 2021
STU 1327  Underground
Instructors: Mira Henry + Matthew Au
                 (Current Interests)






Los Angeles

Facades are portraits.
Not only portraits of the building, but portraits of the surrounding as well; they collect and reflect information.
The project is about a set of portraits, reflecting the reality of the front and back faces of the Crenshaw Discount Store in Los Angeles.



2021.Crenshaw Discount Store.

The differentiation between the two facades (front and back) of the current store is still to be defined.
Both of these facades are important, but they carry different characteristics.






1941. Grayson’s Women Fine Apparel.

By studying the facades of Victor Gruen’s first built project in Los Angeles,
one can see the old portraits of Crenshaw Discount Store.





















Could the old facades be reshaped with a contemporary perspective?

















Could undoing or unbuilding be a way to redesign this store?