Education:
Loyola Marymount University –
Charles Von Der Ahe Building
LMU’s former Von der Ahe library reopened its doors in 2011 as the campus’s new Student and Welcome Center. ARC Engineering provided MEP services for the dramatic AECOM designed renovation, which repurposed the 95,000 sq. ft. library into a multi-use academic and student services building including the Welcome Center, Academic Affairs, University Relations and bookstore with business and finance uses to enhance the student and public experience on campus.
Starting in 2008, ARC worked closely with the Loyola facilities and the entire project team which included CW Driver and Anthony Mason & Associates to make necessary system adjustments to suit the new occupancy. With the old library gutted and shell preserved, critical high voltage power lines running through and encircling the space and serving adjacent buildings were reworked; a new basement electrical room was created and high voltage switches were replaced and distribution modified; existing mechanical systems were re-used where applicable and augmented with newer units to suit new office spaces and the entire distribution was modified. Says ARC principal Hisham Barakat, “We essentially started from scratch.”