Architecture

With over 2,100 apartment homes at Casa Mira View, several Mediterranean-based architectural styles were chosen to provide visual differentiation within the community. Five-story residential buildings are set amid 41 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds featuring impressive large-scale art installations. Resort-style amenities include outdoor living rooms, cabanas, multiple swimming pools and courtyards, sports courts, numerous retail outlets provided for the residents’ convenience, and a centralized recreation center with bowling alley, rooftop retreat and state-of-the-art fitness center.

Coast Tropical is a subsidiary of Coast Citrus Distributors, a major wholesaler of fruits and vegetables in the United States and Mexico. We worked with Big-D Pacific Construction Corp. on Coast Tropical’s new, Design-Build facility in Union City, California. Overall project size is 84,772 sf. The facility utilizes concrete tilt-up construction, with over 17,000 sf of interior cold storage construction. Other features include a two story office, dock, dry warehouse, and ripening rooms.

AC Martin provided a feasibility study, programming report, and architectural/interior design services for this addition and renovation project. The interior renovation includes a living room surrounded by multipurpose spaces, the admissions office, a new faculty club and several types of foodservice. Adjacent to the faculty club on the third floor is a new rooftop terrace featuring planters, built-in seating and an outdoor living space centered around a fireplace.

Flexibility in programming and overlapping functions informed the design of the facility. Integrating foodservice and entertainment venues was important. The ability to host larger performances and concerts was achieved via operable walls and by designing and specifying light modular furniture that could be pushed aside to accommodate an audience. 

Throughout the space, warm yet modern materials and furnishings were selected to make the center less institutional. Walnut paneling wraps existing concrete columns and forms louvered screens between programmatic functions. These screens allow for visual connectivity while still providing physical separation, breaking down the large space into comfortable nooks and seating areas. Exposed ceilings, carefully located soffits and use of existing ceiling elevations allowed for an economical design that is rich and visually interesting. Glowing pendants, floor lamps and indirect lighting provides the space a feeling of hospitality and an almost residential scale. Furnishings are soft, yet durable and the seating is designed to be light, moveable and inviting.

Conceived as a creative base camp to a wide spectrum of creators and artist, AVA Arts District is a seven-story development in the southern half of the Arts District located in downtown Los Angeles. The site was once home to a cold storage facility and will be transfered into a new vibrant live/work mixed-use development.

The project provides 475 live/work units with ground floor retail and multiple indoor and outdoor spaces dedicated to arts, production and personal wellness on site. 20% of the live/work units allow for light industrial uses and all live/work units include a minimum of 150 SF of uninhibited working space within the unit. AC Martin is the architect of record and OFFICEUNTITLED is the design architect.

The  EMILY^™ brand of DSA pre-checked, site-built classrooms has provided a cost-effective classroom replacement solution to the California educational system for the past 18 years. This fall we present EMILY ^™ 2.0 — a complete re-invention of this classic design that is carefully tuned to the concerns of modern education in the California K-12 environment.

EMILY ^™ 2.0  is a fully electrified, Zero-Net Energy, 21^st Century classroom that incorporates lessons learned from COVID-19. The new classroom is equipped with a superior air-filtration system, passive ventilation, and an expansive connection to the outdoor—all responding aggressively to the health concerns that we expect will remain with us into the future. Additionally, as a ZNE design covering most climate zones in California, EMILY ^™ 2.0  helps eliminate energy costs, allowing school districts to allocate their budgets elsewhere.

This site-built classroom design uses the efficiency of standard carpentry and local construction companies. Unlike modular products, construction dollars stay within the community. The structure utilizes Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) technology in order to reduce expensive contractor time-on-site; it will be the first DSA approved project of this type in the state of California. A wide array of exterior sheathing options allows Districts to select materials and an appearance that will complement existing campuses.

Equipped with four teaching walls and two projector mount locations, the configurability of EMILY^™ 2.0 provides the flexibility to support multiple teaching and learning styles, including multiple break-out sessions and small group collaboration. Expansion capability to the outdoors allow for supervised project work outside, active embodied-learning curriculums, and more expansive activities that a traditional 960 sf classroom cannot hold. 

The space is also designed to expand internally with adjunct spaces that offer a 1,350 sf classroom as well as a series of breakout spaces, teacher workrooms, adult and child toilet rooms, and support spaces. Sliding acoustic wall panels provide the option to link up to 5 classrooms to create even more flexible layout opportunities.

Designed in a friendly and welcoming contemporary architectural style, Aria consists of a one five-story building containing a total of 57 residential units with dual elevator access to all floor levels including a roof deck. 

On-site property manager and case managers will share a secure office space adjacent to the building’s main entrance and have good visual access to the resident ground level amenities including a computer room. A spacious outdoor courtyard is situated off the rear of a 1,000 SF community room. Shade trees will provide a comfortable setting to relax outside and a small garden will be featured for residents to cultivate herbs and vegetables for themselves. Additional outdoor amenity space will be provided on a beautifully landscaped rooftop terrace, providing residents with outdoor lounge areas amid raised landscaped planters.

This $29.3-million project, located near the Expo/La Brea Station, is a joint venture between the Cesar Chavez Foundation and New Directions for Veterans. The architectural design incorporates many Spanish Colonial Revival aspects, similar to other neighboring 1920’s multi-family buildings.  The 3- and 4-story wood framed structure provides 63 total units with 32 apartments for homeless veterans, 4 units for homeless senior veterans, and 27 units for seniors. On-site amenities include a community garden, computer room, fitness center, and social services for residents.  There is also a 53-car parking garage on site.

This new freshman housing complex is a significant addition to San Diego State’s student life program. Located on a long and narrow site on the west side of the campus, Huāxyacac Hall joins with an existing 600-bed dorm to create a new freshman village, tailor-made for first year students.

Huāxyacac Hall was designed to address the unique needs of first year students, including amenities such as a community kitchen, community center, market and coffee shop to encourage socialization and interaction with peers. The project was also designed to address a burgeoning demand for affordable housing. This involved tripling the double rooms and turning triples into quads to give maximum flexibility in accommodating students and handle the constant ebb and flow of students matriculating at SDSU. The building provides a focused, age appropriate freshman experience, a “place to call home” for students that will aid in recruitment and support the University’s goals for student success by bolstering SDSU’s retention and graduation rates.

Other features of the project include apartments for staff, multi-purpose rooms, mail room, courtyards, indoor bike storage, small study lounges scattered throughout, and a plaza that can accommodate food trucks and farmer’s market vendors.

The Ronald Tutor Campus Center provides a dramatic and elegant space consistent with the University of Southern California's (USC) reputation as a world-class university of the 21st century. At the heart of the Campus Center is a grand outdoor plaza, a gathering and dining area that has become the heartbeat of life on campus. Every design and programmatic element—lounges, study areas, meeting rooms, food service, student forum, and outdoor space—of the 193,000 SF building is devoted to fulfilling USC’s mission. The Campus Center has transformed USC by uniting the Trojan Family and giving the Trojan Spirit a place to thrive.

Located at the heart of USC, the Campus Center is used by virtually every person who passes through the campus. The new complex connects the Gwynn Wilson Student Union and the Pertusati University Bookstore with new dining options, student life and involvement space, and offices for Admissions and student organizations.

As the University’s “town hall”, the center provides meeting rooms and offices for student programs and organizations, lounges, entertainment facilities, dining and retail locations, conference rooms, a multi-purpose room and open spaces where members of the USC community can study, read, relax or socialize. Additionally, the Center houses the Trojan Family Room in the main entry, a warm and inviting space with a fireplace and soaring beamed ceilings, which serves as a greeting area and dramatic introduction to the facility and campus.

The Alumni Center is a home away from home for Trojan alumni. The Admission Center provides a place for prospective students and parents to become acquainted with the University through tours and orientation in the Admission Theater. Through the involvement of Hospitality, a variety of popular food venues was conceived, including a traditional food court with exterior take-out windows, café offering healthier cuisine, fine dining restaurant, and deli featuring multiple food stations.