ADU 1s and 2s

This unit expresses the deep roots of west coast hip-hop culture and its proliferation across the city and county of Los Angeles. Fully taking hold of the public consciousness in the early 90s –– after the brutal police beating of Rodney King on live television –– rap music projected the voice of Angelinos from Compton and Watts, to South Central and Long Beach. The twisted forms of this ADU recalls the spin and scratch of a DJ’s records, the head spins and flares of an old school b-boy, and the spinning rims of a pimped out ’64 Impala. The 950 square foot, two- bedroom two-bathroom model shown can be adapted to a smaller one-bedroom unit or to include and additional half bath. Exterior finishes can also be adapted to reflect the various textures and identities of the city.

Sekou Cooke is an architect, researcher, educator, and curator based in Syracuse, NY. He is currently Assistant Professor at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture where he teaches design studios and seminars that value breadth of exploration over formulaic production. Through his professional practice, sekou cooke STUDIO, he brings thoughtful processes and rigorous experimentation to a vast array of project types from public, non-profit, and residential works in New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, to mixed-use projects and tenant improvements in California, to speculative developments locally and internationally.

Sekou’s current research centers on the emergent field of Hip-Hop Architecture, a theoretical movement reflecting the core tenets of hip-hop culture with the power to create meaningful impact on the built environment and give voice to the marginalized and underrepresented within design practice. This work has been widely disseminated through his writings, lectures, and symposia, and is the subject of his upcoming monograph Hip-Hop Architecture. He will also be featured in the upcoming exhibition, Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, at the Museum of Modern Art. Through his research, practice, and other academic endeavors, Sekou hopes to leave an equally lasting impact on ivory towers and underserved communities. His ultimate goal is mastery of craft and world domination. Sekou holds a B.Arch from Cornell University, an M.Arch from Harvard University, and is licensed to practice architecture in New York State.