Leo J. Trombatore State Office Building - Caltrans

The headquarters building for Caltrans District 3 is a five story office building designed to house 800 state employees. The building features loft-like open offices with high ceilings and natural lighting for Caltrans administration, design and engineering studios. It includes a 200-seat auditorium, public service counters, teleconferencing facilities, and a cafeteria with outdoor tables. A prominent component of the building is the cavernous 4-story central space known as “The Canyon.” Beginning at the second floor, the canyon opens up to the light filled interior which is created by 115 linear feet of highly reflective light louvers.

The building was placed on the north half of the project site, and is at the visual termination of 8th Street and “B” Street. The main entrance, located near this intersection, strengthens the symbolic connection with the community. The siting of the building takes advantage of the favorable north-south sun orientation, allowing usage of the south orientation for day lighting into the building and the ambient light of the north elevation to create a controllable light filled working environment. With this building orientation, the Canyon drives the natural light into the building’s interior, where no work space Is more than 37-feet from natural light. This feature provides vertical visual communication, adding cohesiveness to the building’s organization, as compared to traditionally stacked floors organized around a central core. The headquarters is certified LEED® Silver.