Architecture

The five-story affordable senior housing project reflects a contemporary approach rooted in local character. Inspired by surrounding Craftsman and Prairie-style homes, the design emphasizes horizontality to reduce vertical scale while introducing modern detailing. Soft wood tones and clean lines harmonize with the mountain backdrop. A key feature is the perforated metal panel, inspired by mid-century modernism, adding privacy and visual interest to the parking garage on Figueroa Drive.

Located on a half-acre corner lot at Lincoln Avenue and Figueroa Drive, the building offers views of the city to the south and the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. Though the January 2025 wildfire devastated the Altadena neighborhood, the non-combustible exterior helped save the building—making it a symbol of hope and resilience. The project includes 72 studio and one-bedroom units, a two-bedroom manager’s unit, and a landscaped courtyard. Residents enjoy over 2,000 SF of amenity spaces, a welcoming lobby, bike storage, laundry room, and 35 parking spaces. The design promotes wellness, connection, and long-term stability.

Gateway Hall provides California State University, Channel Islands with a new “front door” that is a beautiful and welcoming space for both the campus and the surrounding community. The spaces provide innovative environments for learning, interaction, and collaboration. The project consolidates several departments and spaces into a centralized hub - providing a new building and renovated buildings that are intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.

The program for the new Gateway Hall provides approximately 80,000 SF of renovated existing facilities and new construction. The project will house campus admission, and a new “one-stop-shop” for student services, including financial aid, registrar, and advising. The new building will also house new general classrooms and departmental labs for math, computer sciences, and mechatronics. Lastly, the extended university will find a new home in renovated facilities; one that provides a new front door to the community. The project pulls together programs and occupants from across the campus into an interdisciplinary and integrated complex, putting the student and public community first.

Designed according to the mission style campus guidelines, the new building blends harmoniously into the contextual campus. Gateway Hall will greet all who arrive at the CSUCI campus with its welcoming façade. As a campus built in the Mission style, buildings were sited to define outdoor space. The new Gateway Hall building is sited to maintain that character. At the termination of University Drive, the visual corridor facing south towards the North Quad is preserved by siting Gateway Hall on the west side, in anticipation of a future theater to be located on the east side, and creating a paseo in between the two buildings. The Paseo serves as the main outdoor circulation through the Gateway site and into the North Quad and the rest of the campus. It is envisioned to have a leisurely quality as one moves through the site with Paseo-facing edges that are porous, providing visibility into interior activities. The Paseo has an entry plaza on its north end, giving a sense of arrival to the campus. The renovation of the historic structures gives new life to the old buildings, adapting the previous mental hospital into a welcoming university environment. The buildings were completed in August 2025.

Amanda Villas is an affordable senior housing development, currently under construction, in Cudahy, CA. The 140-unit project will provide low-income seniors earning 50% below the area median income with high-quality affordable housing. The project includes a 21,000 square foot state-of-the-art health center that will deliver medical, dental, and behavioral health services to residents of the development as well as neighbors in the community.

According to LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn “the proposed development is designed to be an impactful mixed-use development that provides a one stop housing and wellness solution for low income and homeless seniors, including an array of on-site health services and economic development opportunities accessible to the surrounding community, such as job creation, and education and training programs”.

The five-story building exterior was designed with Irvin Gil’s influences, considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture and commonly found in southern California. The exterior design features white stucco walls contrasted by a brick cladded base and colorful tile insets. The building massing is softened with deep roof overhangs and gracefully articulated arched openings at the ground level. Rounding the street-facing building elevation is a focal entry courtyard and a landscaped rooftop terrace on the fifth level overlooking the existing streetscape.

The project is funded by a combination of LA County Development Authority (LACDA) funds and State of California Tax Credits.

The new Behavioral and Social Sciences building, which replaced Butte Hall on the Chico State University campus, creates a bookend for the campus’ east-west connection. The building massing is informed by the scale of the existing buildings, the programmatic elements, access to daylight, and accommodation of solar panels. This 94,000 gross square foot, design-build project with Turner Construction Company is a net zero energy building that co-locates several college resources to a common location and provides much needed study areas. The new building maximizes space usage, provides active learning environments, creates holistic work environments for faculty and staff, improves outdoor environments, and supports the health and wellness of all building occupants.⁠
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The building includes 22 general university classrooms, 1 large learning hall, various study and lounge spaces, 5 departmental instructional labs, and office spaces for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. The Behavioral and Social Sciences departments include Anthropology, Economics, Geography and Planning, Multi-Cultural and Gender Studies, Political Science and Criminal Justice, Public Health and Health Services Administration, Social Science, Social Work, and Sociology.⁠

The Resources Building Renovation for the California Department of General Services consists of the comprehensive renovation of the original Resources Building at 1416 9th Street in Sacramento. The existing building is 17 stories and roughly 657,000 GSF. Utilizing a progressive design-build delivery method, the Turner + AC Martin + HGA Team’s approach addressed the State’s Goals and Critical Success Factors as fundamental touch points to ensure a project that brings the highest value and differentiates itself yet honors the significance of the original International Style building.

The renovation included the demolition of the existing building’s non-structural elements and a thorough abatement of materials. The fundamental massing of the building remained unchanged. The intervention introduced a new energy-efficient skin, with an orchestrated pattern of glass spandrel panels that recall the metaphor of the original façade.

The decorative open graphic on the East and West façade has been reinterpreted with vertical fins in an alternating light and dark pattern. The podium elevations are finished with a gradient pattern of glazed brick to enliven the pedestrian experience and support the City’s initiatives for the O Street corridor. The design of the office workplace is modern and flexible to facilitate collaboration and productivity while adaptable to change in the post-pandemic world. Sustainability was a priority, and the project is on track to achieve LEED Platinum certification and targets Carbon Neutrality and Zero Net Energy.

The 44,450 SF Energy Innovation Building will be the central hub of research, experimentation, and collaboration on the future of energy in the San Joaquin Valley. The project will include research and teaching laboratories, a Capstone Design Laboratory, private/open offices, a flex-design event space, the Extended Education Global Outreach center, and an outdoor interactive space. The Energy Innovation Building will be tightly connected to its context, meeting the needs and desires of the talented and ambitious student body. Architecturally, it will seamlessly integrate with the existing campus, respecting its setting while representing a new era of energy and innovation at CSU Bakersfield. Environmentally, it will harmonize with the outdoors and the natural landscape, embodying sustainability design principles that align with the commitment to a greener, more resilient future. Communally, the design will be characterized by a welcoming spirit, creating a space where learning is not just a hidden pursuit but a visible and shared endeavor. In every aspect, this project will harness the potential of collaborative and inclusive design in order to move the region, and nation, forward with renewable energy research. With the Energy Innovation Building, CSU Bakersfield will be able to increase and promote robust industry partnerships, attract funding, facilitate faculty and student research, and engage the community. The Energy Innovation Building will solidify CSUB’s pivotal role in the future of energy solutions in the Valley and beyond.

Learn more on the CSU Bakersfield website.

The Autodesk Technology Engagement Center, which includes the Global HSI Equity Innovation Hub, focuses on closing equity gaps in STEM degree pathways and inspiring historically underrepresented minorities in STEM to pursue high-demand careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

This 34,000 GSF project is powered by cutting-edge technology to advance collaboration and interdisciplinary design and research, including labs for engineering, prototype creation, pre-manufacture, and iterative design. Flexible space for interdisciplinary teams to collaborate, innovate, and incubate is included. The project also includes a campus and community maker-space as well as student showcase space to inspire student curiosity and creativity.

To propel student success, the Equity Innovation Hub includes a next generation student success center, student study and collaboration space, and a P-14 outreach discovery lab.  CSUN will use these spaces to  engage middle, high school, and community college students as well as families, to include a whole family outreach approach.

The project is uniquely designed with equity as a core design principle. AC Martin led a series of design workshops, meeting with university leadership, an interdisciplinary faculty and staff collaborative group, and a student focus group, to ensure the project design would achieve its goals to:

• Be welcoming and approachable to students and the community.
• Highlight & inspire interest in STEM professions, education, real-world applications & technology.
• Ensure diverse representation of historically underrepresented minorities.
• Create flexible spaces & adaptable design.

The Autodesk Technology Engagement Center provides a new, modern, state-of-the-art facility, creating a new identity for the College and University at a prominent campus location. Additional site improvements include outdoor gathering space, seating areas, and hands-on STEM activity areas.

The new 8,000 SF Mervyn M. Dymally African American Political & Economic Institute (MDAAPEI) building at California State University, Dominguez Hills, will embody progress, purpose, and vision, marking the start of a new era of growth and expanding the Institute’s significance.

Once confined to a 450 SF space in the campus library, where the Executive Director worked from a converted janitor’s closet, the Institute has consistently documented and celebrated African American leadership in politics, business, and public policy. Despite space constraints, MDAAPEI has empowered students and the community through training, leadership programs, and cultural events that highlight the African Diaspora. The 8,000 SF AC Martin-designed facility will be built on a vacant site near the College of Continuing & Professional Education. The building will include administrative offices, a reading center for rare works, and ample space for community engagement on critical issues. The Institute will house a digital archive, oral histories, a research space, and a 2,000-volume library open to scholars statewide. Signature events, including the Aging Symposium, the Distinguished Speaker Series, and the African American Leadership Summit, will now have a dedicated home, amplifying the Institute’s impact. AC Martin was also tasked with developing a conceptual furniture plan to guide future furnishings, ensuring every detail aligns with the Institute’s goals. Thoughtfully designed interiors will honor the Institute’s mission and inspire visitors, reaffirming MDAAPEI’s commitment to empowering future generations, preserving vital histories

The Orthotics and Prosthetics Department is currently located off-campus in a 12,000 SF Los Alamitos office park, approximately 16 miles away from the CSUDH main campus in Carson. To address this issue, AC Martin designed a new 5,000 GSF Orthotics and Prosthetics Education Center to be built adjacent to the existing College of Continuing and Professional Education (CCPE) building. The new education center will house a mechatronics lab, student lab, a maker space, clinical space, and shared resources for storage and deliverables. The O+P program will utilize existing classroom space in the CCPE building for lecture courses. CSUDH extensively studied how to bring the O+P program to the main campus, including scenarios for renovations, new construction, and nearby property purchases. However, the construction of a new O+P facility on campus yielded the most long-term operational savings as well as most closely meeting the needs of the program.

Bringing the O+P program back to the main campus provides many advantages, including closer connection to the College of Health and Human Development, College of Continuing and Professional Education, and University services and resources.