On a triangle-shaped lot near the historic Watts Towers and the beloved Watts Towers Arts Center, a new mixed-use project is underway to add another arts and culture destination to the neighborhood. House No.1, the R Cloud House, aims not only to draw people from all over the city and beyond to experience the Black aesthetic through architecture but also to bring similar developments to other neighborhoods in the country. If it is difficult for you to envision what Black architecture is, can’t visualize any examples at all or can only think of Black architects versus Black architecture, that’s why this project, the first of nine planned case-study homes to be built in historically Black neighborhoods, is significant.
The project’s architect is Demar Matthews, principal of offTOP Design. “We think of ‘the hood’ as Black neighborhoods. That’s what most people think of…
