Program: A two-story, 55,000-square foot office and support complex for the City of Hope cancer center. Adapted from a tilt-up concrete industrial structure from the 1970s, the project gathers previously scattered functions under one roof. It includes open and private offices, conference rooms, the campus's emergency operations center, a carpentry shop, locker rooms, equipment repair shops, a wet lab, and shipping and receiving.
Design concept and solution: The architects wanted to transform the windowless concrete building into a light-filled, energizing workspace. They removed a central segment of the building to create a glassed-walled courtyard and carved paths through the site to form pedestrian-scale "street" grids. Like storefronts in a village, the different work groups encircle the courtyard, with shared spaces such as conference rooms and break rooms closest to the middle. On the interior, the color palette—five shades of blue and five shades of yellow—extends the geographical analogy: yellows identify north-south walls, and blues, east-west. Skylights throughout the building work in tandem with the courtyard to allow most spaces to rely on daylight for much of the day. Other sustainable features include a network of landscaped bioswales that organize traffic and a vertical planting screen that shades the building.
Architect:
West Edge Architects
Peter M. Mitsakos & Associates
4223 Glencoe Avenue
Suite B117; Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Telephone: (310) 821-2399
Fax: (310) 821-2368
Location: Duarte, California
Completion Date: May 2010
Total construction cost: $4.4 million
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