Law Firm:
Latham and Watkins
In 2008 the international law firm Latham and Watkins began a new interior build-out of approximately 300,000 sq. ft. on 15 floors of 355 S. Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Working with Gensler, Howard Building Corporation, Mark Smith and the rest of the Latham team, ARC Engineering provided comprehensive MEP services on the fast-track project, which finished in the third quarter of 2008 and is LEED Certified. The success of the project came from the team working together closely and very heavy involvement by ARC during the construction phase.
The project included a conferencing center, full cooking kitchen, gym, and data center with UPS, generator back-up and 24/7 air conditioning. The team worked with the landlord to rehab and re-use an existing generator and avoided the typically challenging process of adding a generator to a downtown Los Angeles high rise, an alternative that proved to be a very successful solution. The major challenge and success of the project proved to be the addition of a mezzanine level to the two-story functioning lobby, which created a double height space for the conferencing center.