- Client
- Mosaic Family Care
- Location
- El Sereno, CA
- Services
- Medical & dental office
- Scope
- Exterior placemaking
- Year
- 2024
Mosaic Family Care.
Transforming a neglected medical facility into a neighborhood asset.
Drag to reveal · Before / After · Photos John Thomas Benson
Mosaic Family Care serves a beautiful, hard-working community in El Sereno. The facility sits in a high-traffic corridor and had been repeatedly tagged and weathered. Its exterior no longer reflected the transformation happening inside.
We studied two directions: a community mural and a green facade. After reviewing precedents: Cedars-Sinai Los Feliz, the Weingart Center on Skid Row, and a brick building on Mission Road, we recommended a green facade for its flexibility, biophilic value, and proven resistance to vandalism.
- •Restored, vandal-resistant exterior
- •Biophilic frontage across 70 ft of facade
- •Hand-painted, legible new signage
- •Stronger sense of dignity and welcome
- •A recognizable neighborhood landmark
- •Delivered on time and under budget
Seven moments. One transformation.
Aging building → repair → rebrand → biophilic integration → community landmark.
- 01
The original facade
Valuable medical and dental services housed behind an exterior that signaled age, deterioration, and disinvestment. Patients formed impressions before ever walking through the front door.
02Stripping and assessment
Layers of patched paint, faded signage and decades of repair tell us what the building has been through, and what it needs to become.
03Surface repair and restoration
Structural patching and surface preparation across the full width of the building. The bones of the architecture are honored and made sound again.
04Detail work
Window-by-window care. The kind of close work that a sidewalk passerby will never name, but will absolutely feel.
05Rebranding and identity
A calm, generous coat of soft blue replaces the worn yellow. The building begins to speak in a different voice: one of clarity, calm, and care.
06Biophilic integration
A continuous living green wall is installed along the base, framing the existing Mosaic mural and softening the meeting between building and street.
- 07
A neighborhood landmark
Signage, color, planting, and mural read as one coherent identity. The block has a new center of gravity, and the organization inside finally looks like the care it provides.
Full-service delivery. Managed end to end.
We handled sourcing, trade coordination, and installation directly, delivering on time and under the proposed budget.
“The building finally matches the quality of care that happens inside. Our patients notice. The neighborhood notices.”
Mosaic Family Care leadership