Core and Shell:
Beverly Wilshire Mixed Use
ARC was approached to develop MEP designs for a project that started as an existing parking structure attached to an existing high-rise building. The parking structure was demolished to create a new 6-story building with three levels of underground parking shared between the two buildings.
The Gensler design specified first floor retail and five more stories of offices and included a cantilevered second floor deck. MGM ultimately took over a majority of the space and implemented a beautiful first floor screening room.
Challenges of this project included significant coordination and an extensive understanding of the requirements for retail space. As a high-rise building, special smoke control was needed, and this was achieved by designing and constructing fail-safe elements that could purge smoke out of the fire floor, sandwich it with a pressurized system on top and bottom of floor and exhaust it using existing repurposed HVAC. In addition, this was a very tightly constrained site and necessitated coordinating electrical utilities, access floors, and designing and installing a system of hidden transformers and generators for power distribution.
In the end, ARC was instrumental in designing and coordinating the MEP details that allowed the finished building by Tishman Construction and SquareOne project management to stand out as a truly beautiful structure that achieved all its unique technical goals.