Higher Education

This 400,000 SF office building provides general office space for the Western Headquarters of Prudential Insurance Company of America. The project site consists of 49 acres developed within a 64-acre parcel of land. The project includes a three-story building, with 286,000 square feet of office area, and 100,000 square feet devoted to support functions such as a cafeteria, audio-visual, atrium and mechanical areas. Site development includes an internal access road system, parking facilities for1,054 cars and a fully landscaped master plan.

The building structure itself is integrated in an earthen saddle within the existing terrain. Secondary berms also serve to screen parking lots, service areas and mechanical cooling equipment. The integration of a three story atrium satisfies the client’s need for long-range departmental flexibility and provides a focal circulation point for the facility. The two long elevations include six-foot overhangs with a continuous window running the length of the building. The overhangs eliminate the excessive direct solar gain problems normally associated with continuous large expanses of glass.

The Center for the Arts at Pasadena City College brings together the disciplines of art and music in one facility. The goal was to create an environment that would inspire creativity, challenge the imagination, and encourage collaboration between the visual artists and musicians while carving out a distinctive home for both. Through the design process the team discovered the unique needs of these two departments and the potential to capitalize on the inherent artistic connections. Complex programmatic issues were resolved while introducing a dynamic collage of forms, materials, and colors that fits seamlessly into the campus.

The three-story, 87,000-SF building program includes a 94-seat lecture hall, 1,200-SF gallery space, art labs and studios, 88-seat Little Theater, 225-seat recital hall, music classrooms, rehearsal spaces, basement level support spaces and studio/labs for jewelry, photography, cinema, drawing, painting, digital, printmaking and sculpture. Due to the cross-disciplinary functions of the building and programmed space, careful consideration was given to acoustical treatment and separation. Lighting and theater equipment were carefully coordinated with the structure and building systems.

The Padre Serra Parish Church is located in the city of Camarillo on a site which is a portion of the historical St. John’s Seminary and is bounded on three sides by a vast agricultural area. The church architecture blends uniquely with the Spanish Colonial architectural style found at the Seminary and nearby Mary Magdelen Chapel.

The project was master planned into three phases on an 11.8 acre parcel comprised of:  the main worship sanctuary with support areas, a chapel, classrooms and offices, parochial school, day care facility, multi-purpose building, rectory, and play fields for the school

The complex is centered around a central courtyard which functions as a gathering space before and after worship, and for parish events such as weddings.

Entrances onto the property are marked by decorative gateways followed by tree lined drives which lead to and from a ceremonial auto court located at the entrance to the courtyard and service the parking area. The parking area contains approximately 330 spaces and is lushly landscaped to complement the existing Seminary property.

AC Martin provided a Feasibility Study and design for this 106,500 GSF facility for Social and Behavioral Sciences, which is located on the main planned pedestrian spine. It includes lecture halls, graduate research space, faculty offices, a Dean’s Suite, 10 department suites, support spaces, conference rooms and two centers. Research labs housed in the building include: Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, Community Ethnobotany Lab, Communication Lab, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Lab.

The School of Law occupies this complex on Chapman University’s main campus in Orange. The main building, rising four stories and providing 133,000 SF, offers an efficient and pleasant learning environment for students. Classrooms and seminar rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for enhanced teaching and learning and are capable of accommodating future changes in electronic, visual and on-site learning technologies. 

The law library occupies one wing of the building, offering student carrels equipped with outlets for laptop computers and related electronic devices. Two courtrooms, one designed for trials and the other for appellate hearings, provide fully equipped facilities for trial advocacy exercises, mock trial and moot court competitions, and formal hearings by visiting courts. Student lounges and facilities for student organizations are included. In addition, a new 720-car parking structure at the rear of the law building provides parking for students, faculty and visitors.

AC Martin provided architectural and engineering services for the rehabilitation of Los Angeles’ historic Subway Terminal Building as live/work loft housing. The project served as a case study model for the City’s recently approved Adaptive Reuse Ordinance. AC Martin provided public space historic renovations, new parking structure and complete seismic and structural work.  

Built in 1925 by the Pacific Electric Railroad, the 482,450 sf Historic Subway Terminal Building was originally an office building that housed the Red Car Subway Station until 1956 when the system was permanently retired. The building design features four north-south wings, joined by an east-west corridor. 

Floors three and above (totaling 294,300 sf) were reconfigured and fully outfitted by Thomas P. Cox Architects. Thirty-one unit types range from 384 sf studios to a 2,200 sf, three-level penthouse.

The roof areas between the apartment wings was given a hardscape design by Mia Lehrer Associates, who also created a roof garden on the top of one of the towers.

AC Martin’s design of the five-level parking structure mirrors the mass and strength of the historic building, and adds contemporary features such as a “green wall” of plantings.

The CSU Sacramento 2015 Master Plan is a guide to the development of Sac State’s 300-acre campus and its facilities in order to serve 25,000 students over the next twenty years in a rapidly evolving higher education environment.  The plan capitalizes on Sac State’s distinctive campus landscape and significantly amplifies the University’s sustainability profile.  

The centerpiece of the Master Plan is the new Hornet Greenway, the product of an interdisciplinary planning effort involving the campus infrastructure team, the master plan architects and the landscape architects.  The Greenway creates a completely new central pedestrian spine and bio-swale system that will allow the campus to improve its stormwater management system with comprehensive, sustainable techniques to detain, clean and divert stormwater before returning it to the adjacent American River.   

The Greenway, branded for the campus mascot, creates a new central landscape feature on a campus that features 3,000 mature trees and connects the expanded Arboretum to the campus core.  It also serves to renew and integrate the academic core by linking new and existing academic buildings through this unique pedestrian circulation system.  The Greenway will also provide a system of teaching and learning stations that makes the campus into a living laboratory for the natural science disciplines.