Oct 27 2009
Cuningham Group Architecture PA (CGA), and its partner REthink Development, recently received approvals from Culver City to create its new Southern California headquarters in the architecturally advanced Hayden Tract district.
CGA will occupy 10,000 square feet of the 63,000-square-foot structure, selling remaining space to other firms as office condominiums. The building, called Hayden, is a model for reducing energy use and enhancing the urban environment, and is projected to break ground in 2011 and open in late 2012. It will be the first very high-performance office condominium in one of the most desirable sections of Los Angeles.
“The principals of the firm are investing their own money significantly in this project,” says CGA Principal Jonathan V. Watts, AIA, LEED A.P. “It’s a sign that industry leaders can commit to high-performance not only as a design or moral exercise, but also as an investment strategy.”
In Los Angeles it remains unusual for an architecture firm to tackle property acquisition, approvals, financing, liability protection and other development issues. But CGA has a strong track record in green design and sustainable development. And its timing may be right for the eventual commercial real estate rebound.
CGA’s Hayden is in the Hayden Tract, perhaps the most concentrated three square miles of advanced architecture in California. But Hayden will be the first of its kind, in both the Hayden Tract and the Los Angeles office market, to attain at least Gold or possibly Platinum LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System™).
The building’s high-performance attributes include:
- Drought-tolerant, landscaping throughout the project;
- Small floorplates with single loaded access to bring light into 95% of the office space and offer views;
- High-mass, radiantly heated and cooled building with an advanced thermal control system;
- Solar absorption chiller;
- Natural ventilation with trickle vents, operable windows and stack-effect vent shafts;
- Dual-glazed, Low E, floor-to-ceiling glazing with sun control devices appropriate to the various orientations that maximize daylighting and control heat gain;
- Energy-efficient lighting systems, coordinated with natural daylight sensors to maintain even lighting levels and save energy;
- A green living roof to reduce heat gain, reduce storm-water runoff and clean the air.
Source: http://www.cuningham.com/