Higher Education

Union Bank Plaza was the first project within the Bunker Hill development area and is located on an approximately three acre site immediately adjacent to the Harbor Freeway. The tower is a 42-story structure and is positioned on a landscaped plaza which has been developed on top of a four level parking structure housing 1,100 cars. This plaza is extended by a bridge over Figueroa Street, to the plaza of the Bonaventure Hotel to the east.

The building itself contains 590,000 net rentable square feet and the total gross square footage is approximately 1,240,000.

The basic building system is a rigid frame, steel structure with exterior columns at 14 feet centers and a cellular steel floor with concrete fill. This was the first building within Los Angeles to use all interior stairways, providing a more efficient net usable area per floor, and utilizing an off-site central power plant.

The distinctive facade achieves its architectural unity through use of bronze colored, solar glass window wall, recessed approximately four feet within the framing system and utilizing horizontal sun control louvers. All exterior offices are afforded excellent views of the attractively landscaped plaza, Bunker Hill and the City of Los Angeles from Mt. Baldy to the sea.

Chapman University wished to address both expansion and infill development while firmly reinforcing a signature sense of place.  The Master Plan balanced the need for new academic facilities with new and re-landscaped outdoor gathering spaces which have come to further define the Chapman ‘brand.’  In light of the University’s acquisition of land several blocks from the main campus and the need to provide additional student housing, the Master Plan emphasized ways to handle pedestrian and vehicle connections that expand perceived campus boundaries. 

The Master Plan for Chapman’s urban campus identified future new building sites and made recommendations for future land acquisition based on logical growth patterns. The Master Plan set the stage for much of the architectural work that has established Chapman University as a premier small university and continues to guide campus development. 

The treatment of Chapman’s historic buildings was a significant component of the Master Plan. The adaptation of existing historic buildings for the Law School and housing facilities for Film students allowed the University to preserve its heritage while reusing existing facilities. In addition, AC Martin has designed a new classroom building in the style of Chapman’s historic quad to infill an important parcel there. Recently AC Martin has been assisting Chapman develop parcels on the main campus and new acquisitions to the north and west for student housing. 

The design for Chico State's Sutter Hall employs a “village” concept throughout the site. The proposed design engages two legs of the existing Whitney Hall to create a dynamic and diverse experience for students living in both buildings. The new building creates a vibrant courtyard, giving students who live on the site a unique sense of place. The first-floor program – dining and housing support – promotes the use of the courtyard as a spillover space for interior program functions and provide a variety of programmable uses for the courtyard. The site is a popular pedestrian circulation route for students traveling from University Village Housing north of the main campus to the academic core, so the large number of students traveling through the courtyard will charge the space with varying degrees of activity.

The building massing is developed around the concept of a butte. By acting as a “butte” to Whitney Hall, the building gradually steps up in elevation from the southwest to the northeast corner. Varying the massing softens the impact of the building on the adjacent two-story structures, while maximizing the number of beds on the site.
 

The 15,500 SF fast-track remodel of the Parkside dining facility at CSU Long Beach converted a plain cafeteria-style dining hall into a more diverse and eclectic ‘neighborhood-like’ dining experience. The new space aims to “deinstitutionalize” the student dining experience by creating a more comfortable, welcoming and home-like atmosphere. It will provide the students with different food offerings (pizza, healthy/vegan, open grill and comfort food) within the campus setting, allowing students to choose their dining experience (food and mood) much like one would in an urban environment.

AC Martin’s design offers seating areas with different characters and styles—from more communal seating for groups and informal gatherings to individual bar seating for quiet types. We also provide an outdoor shaded dining area/lounge to be open 24 hours. Our design differentiates the dining areas with special characteristics by varying lighting, finishes, colors and ambiance. The idea is to create a “home away from home” for students and provide them with opportunities for gathering, meeting, and collaborating during meal hours and finding a space of their own—a place they feel represents them.

View the article in the Orange County Register 

The 302,689 SF facility is situated on a sloping site with four-and-a-half levels. There are 998 parking spaces in the structure and 128 surface lot spaces. The partial level serves as an entry point to the structure on the site’s lower side. Several design elements break up the building’s exterior, making it less imposing. Rather than being hidden inside, the structure’s elevator tower and outdoor stairwell provide design interest as well as make it easier for visitors to find their way through the building. The exterior façade has a decorative, cast-in-place concrete wall with colored cement tiles and stainless steel perforated panel fins. This new structure meets LEED standards for sustainable design while also blending seamlessly into its surroundings. Solar panels incorporated in the structure’s roof have reduced campus energy costs by 25 percent.

This new police station is designed to exemplify the LAPD’s efforts to create an open, community-serving police force. AC Martin’s design relates the station to the surrounding community, encourages public interaction, and creates a beneficial work environment for the officers.  

Constructed on the site of the existing 1958 station and located near local government offices, community spaces, and a public park, the new station is significantly larger than the original and includes a 54,000-SF main building, a 7,000-SF vehicle maintenance facility, and 115,000-SF parking structure.

The surrounding neighborhood has a rich and layered history with a distinct tradition of artistic expression. Local murals and brightly colored houses and gardens speak to the area’s creative spirit and ultimately played a major role in the design of the new facility. It was important to the community that the building maintain its central location and that the new design help transform the station into part of the neighborhood’s creative fabric. The project’s art program includes a large mural that reflects the history of the area and physically bridges the station to a public park space.

This building is certified LEED® Gold. 

The headquarters building for Caltrans District 3 is a five story office building designed to house 800 state employees. The building features loft-like open offices with high ceilings and natural lighting for Caltrans administration, design and engineering studios. It includes a 200-seat auditorium, public service counters, teleconferencing facilities, and a cafeteria with outdoor tables. A prominent component of the building is the cavernous 4-story central space known as “The Canyon.” Beginning at the second floor, the canyon opens up to the light filled interior which is created by 115 linear feet of highly reflective light louvers.

The building was placed on the north half of the project site, and is at the visual termination of 8th Street and “B” Street. The main entrance, located near this intersection, strengthens the symbolic connection with the community. The siting of the building takes advantage of the favorable north-south sun orientation, allowing usage of the south orientation for day lighting into the building and the ambient light of the north elevation to create a controllable light filled working environment. With this building orientation, the Canyon drives the natural light into the building’s interior, where no work space Is more than 37-feet from natural light. This feature provides vertical visual communication, adding cohesiveness to the building’s organization, as compared to traditionally stacked floors organized around a central core. The headquarters is certified LEED® Silver.

Prolacta’s primary function is to provide milk based nutrients for premature babies. Currently located in an office complex in Monrovia, they plan to expand their facilities to a site in the City of Industry.

The new build-out will consist of approximately 15,000 SF of office space, 11,000 SF of receiving and storage, and approximately 40,000 SF of manufacturing. These spaces will be built into two existing and adjacent buildings. The project will primarily be a tenant improvement, with select exterior improvements including new exterior walls and openings to accommodate the new spaces.

The space will feature laboratories and manufacturing areas that take in, test, and produce milk-based products that are delivered to clients. Also included will be offices, conference and meeting rooms, warehouse and shipping areas and a large lunchroom/Town Hall that will serve as a company-wide meeting area and is planned to be directly adjacent to a proposed garden area.

This 17,000 SF classroom building is the final piece in Chapman University’s long-planned completion of the historic core campus. 

Completed in 2013, the hall is designed to reflect its historic counter parts built from 1913 to 1921. The building is designed with collaboration spaces which are meant to be less formal environments where faculty and students can meet.

The 24,000 SF building includes teaching studios, practice rooms, music classrooms, a 60-seat lecture hall, large instrumental rehearsal hall, and listening library. The building is also used for a number of other campus performances and functions for Dance and Theater providing a much expanded facility to their existing College of Performing Arts. The facility houses a state of the art infrastructure that is capable of meeting the needs of the students and faculty well into the future.