Special Services

The 302,689 SF facility is situated on a sloping site with four-and-a-half levels. There are 998 parking spaces in the structure and 128 surface lot spaces. The partial level serves as an entry point to the structure on the site’s lower side. Several design elements break up the building’s exterior, making it less imposing. Rather than being hidden inside, the structure’s elevator tower and outdoor stairwell provide design interest as well as make it easier for visitors to find their way through the building. The exterior façade has a decorative, cast-in-place concrete wall with colored cement tiles and stainless steel perforated panel fins. This new structure meets LEED standards for sustainable design while also blending seamlessly into its surroundings. Solar panels incorporated in the structure’s roof have reduced campus energy costs by 25 percent.

Reimagining a traditional educational institution, the 42,000 SF renovation of the second floor of McCarthy Hall introduces daylight and a sense of place to the Biology and Geology departments. Spaces include department offices, teaching and research labs, a cadaver lab, and an animal facility. Open, informal learning space throughout the floor provides students with areas to study, meet, and learn. Hallways, niches, and open space reach to the exterior in order to drive natural light as far into the center as possible. Integrated display cabinets and full-height glass walls with views into the classrooms reinforce the goal to put science on display.

Originally conceived of as a metal shed, the architect worked with the client to realize a cost-effective and easy-to-construct solution, which embodies the spirit of the iron works’ true passion: steel fabrication.

The project is conceived of as a long two-story bar of 8,432 SF. The bar lines the south side of an existing fabrication building and is defined by a floating Corten steel bar over cement plaster wall panels and full height butt-jointed glass panels. The bar is oriented so that the ‘front’ end of the new building is in close proximity to the existing administration building, and also works to define the client’s brand to visitors as they enter the site. The building is organized around a central exterior core, and has four main areas: receiving is located near the site entry and at grade to process trucks coming onto the site; above that is the main conference room and accounting; at the east end of the second level is the drafting department; and a large lunchroom with multi-slide doors sits at grade near where the workers come off the steel fabrication line. The sliding doors allow workers to open the lunchroom and take advantage of the mild climate, and have larger gatherings that overflow into the adjacent site area.

Site constraints generally defined a limited footprint on which the building could sit. Bound on four sides by buildings, parking aisles and vehicular access ways, the team chose to develop an efficient two-story structure oriented to the south and west.

This project capped a 40-year relationship between the two companies as the architect’s CEO was the production architect on the original office building completed in 1976.

This project provides major tenant improvements to Fullerton’s original Pollak library building which is a 1966 Modernist six-story concrete building with a basement. Our team provided complete re-programming of all floors as part of CSU’s Library of the Future initiative, tenant improvement packages to levels one, four and five, as well as HVAC modernization and life safety upgrades. Improvements include: adding new windows to the existing pre-cast concrete panels on floors 2-6, overhaul of mechanical systems, updated restroom cores and elevator lobbies, miscellaneous accessibility improvements, LED lighting, and new interior finishes throughout. The improvements were conducted via design-build delivery through multiple contract packages and stages.

The initial intent for this project was an MEP upgrade and replacement, but the University decided to take the opportunity to upgrade and reposition Payson Library to become more of an enhanced student experience—a destination for students to interact socially and academically.

The Library decided to shift its approach with the renovation—specifically, to make the Special Collections museum-quality and better known. Goals include a state-of-the-art restoration and training program to care for their unique archives. This new approach was refined through many stakeholder workshops.

The renovation provides several levels of study space, ranging from vibrant interactive areas to be used for lectures, to private break-out rooms for small groups or private study. These are flexible spaces that can provide the differing levels of privacy desired by users. The intent is for Payson Library to become the students’ “third place” on campus— a place where students spend time between home (dorms) and work (study). It will be a place where students can interact, exchange ideas, build relationships, and be part of the total student experience.

This 17,000 SF classroom building is the final piece in Chapman University’s long-planned completion of the historic core campus. 

Completed in 2013, the hall is designed to reflect its historic counter parts built from 1913 to 1921. The building is designed with collaboration spaces which are meant to be less formal environments where faculty and students can meet.

Prolacta’s primary function is to provide milk based nutrients for premature babies. Currently located in an office complex in Monrovia, they plan to expand their facilities to a site in the City of Industry.

The new build-out will consist of approximately 15,000 SF of office space, 11,000 SF of receiving and storage, and approximately 40,000 SF of manufacturing. These spaces will be built into two existing and adjacent buildings. The project will primarily be a tenant improvement, with select exterior improvements including new exterior walls and openings to accommodate the new spaces.

The space will feature laboratories and manufacturing areas that take in, test, and produce milk-based products that are delivered to clients. Also included will be offices, conference and meeting rooms, warehouse and shipping areas and a large lunchroom/Town Hall that will serve as a company-wide meeting area and is planned to be directly adjacent to a proposed garden area.

The nature of scientific collaboration is evolving from one of conducting research within departments to one that creates partnerships across departments/disciplines/institutions and, increasingly, context (academic, government, private industry). This type of interdisciplinary/multi-contextual collaboration has increased the pace of research and encouraged the development of innovative and groundbreaking strategies in investigating increasingly complex problems. Buildings from the 40’s - 90’s do not typically support this type of collaboration. For years, the emphasis in research labs was on bench, support and private office space providing no conference, meeting or social space required for an interdisciplinary team. The Minnich Lab renovation at Caltech looked at the department’s specific needs for collaboration and re-imagined the spaces to open them up and facilitate collaboration between groups.

The Minnich Nanotechnology Research Laser Lab was inserted into the existing 50 year old Keck Laboratory Building at the basement level. Professor Minnich not only conducts experiments, but because of the nature of his work, must also build the elements used in his experiments.  This required spaces to conduct experiments as well as spaces for tooling and manufacturing. AC Martin worked closely with the project team to integrate the proposed design into the existing structure and systems, including upgrades to systems as were required. New spaces include: optical lab, dry lab, wet lab with fume hood, and a sample prep area.

Professor Guttman works in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at California Institute of Technology. His work focuses on a new class of genes known as lincRNA. These genes are involved in controlling how stem cells become other types of cells. Guttman’s work  includes both the experimental as well as the computational components of biological research. In 2012 he received the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, and has been named as one of Forbes magazine’s ’30 under 30’.

Professor Guttman’s method of research required the design of both a biological lab and a computational area that were efficient, conducive to the work being performed, and that fit within a building originally constructed in the 1930’s. The Guttman lab is located on the second floor of Kerckhoff Hall, and is comprised of 1,732 SF of wet lab area, a 1,077 SF computational office area, and a cold room. The wet lab includes a tissue culture room containing microscopes and bio safety cabinets, as well as a main lab space with 18 workstations and 2 fume hoods. 

Design features include a cohesive architecture that connects the two main components, which are set across the hall from one another, custom bamboo cabinetry and shelving, direct/indirect lighting coupled with under-cabinet lighting to achieve the appropriate light levels in the lab spaces. 3D modeling and rendering was used to help professor Guttman visualize the spaces during design. The scope of work included a new mechanical system including 4 fan coils located in the ceiling to condition the space. Construction of the spaces required timely coordination between AC Martin, the consultants and the general contractor, as the project was completed in approximately 4.5 months.

AC Martin was selected by PCL construction to renovate their 25,800-SF Glendale office to create a “Workplace of the Future”, that meets the varied demographics of today’s workforce. By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be made up of Millennials according to the Brookings Institute. This generational shift is changing the office landscape in new and exciting ways, trading in hierarchy for community. PCL was at an exciting crossroads to rethink conventions, redefine workstyles and, ultimately, create its own “Workplace of the Future”.

Flexible, adaptable, malleable work environments are key markers of a desirable next-generation workplace. By offering a diverse array of workspaces, we aimed to help PCL retain current employees and attract new talent by respecting and accommodating different ways of working. This was done by establishing private offices, huddle spaces, and a general open environment with physical separations from the communal areas centrally located in the plan. The departments are split between the executive and project management/estimating wings based on frequency of required interactions. The wings are tied together with common interstitial spaces, furthering the concept of the office as an ideation studio – an inviting place for people to be comfortable and hang out. This allows the exchange necessary for collaboration and encourages serendipitous dialogue. Lounges, communal tables, built-in benches, and booths ultimately define the ‘heart and soul’ of this workplace. A communicating staircase was added between the two floors, allowing the estimating and accounting teams easier access to the main floor and bolstering the overall team environment.

The major change brought about by the renovation was the breakdown of barriers between departments that interact frequently. Attracting the “next gen” workforce requires answering their need for a flexible, adaptable, malleable work environment. By offering a diverse array of workspaces—open-office seating, collaborative areas, quiet huddle regions--we met the challenges that PCL will face in retaining current employees and attracting new talent. A space for everyone does not mean ‘one size fits all’, but rather a move towards individualization and a customizable work environment that offers choices—quiet and loud, small and large, private and interactive, individual and group, formal and informal.