THE PLANT Culver City, California
A truly sustainable design must answer questions of economic viability, social awareness and environmental sensitivity. On a 34,000 square foot site in Culver City, zoned industrial and bounded on two sides by single family residential, the challenge from the outset was to design a project which responded to all three questions and provided a unique, beautiful workplace for creative companies.
This project will be the first high performance creative office building in Southern California that smaller businesses can invest in. The project has been designed using an integrated design process which established structural, social and mechanical systems first and then built on that criteria to create a healthy, productive, environmentally and economically sustainable development.
The 63,000-square-foot building is organized with two halves split by a space which includes an exterior courtyard, the entry and core and the circulation system. The following are the criteria that shaped the project:
- Natural ventilation mandated maximum distances of thirty-five feet from perimeter to central stack-effect ventilation shafts;
- Daylighting and solar control dictated window glazing and calculated louver design;
- The minimum energy requirement mandated a high thermal mass building with radiant heating/cooling;
- The use of renewable energy source required a solar absorption chiller system;
- The desire to build a reasonable size project which was economically feasible mandated a reduction in area from the total allowed.
The proposed project will be the first of its kind in the area to be certified LEED® Platinum.
GREEN = Society/Culture + Economy + Environment
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