flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Narrow site, broad vision: LA Metro Light Rail Operations & Maintenance Facility

Building Team Awards

Narrow site, broad vision: LA Metro Light Rail Operations & Maintenance Facility

Gold Award: A slender building site had direct implications for the design of this light-rail facility.


By David Malone, Associate Editor | June 8, 2017

Large skylights flood the maintenance area with natural light and turn what could have been a dark warehouse into a bright workspace. Chang Kim photograph.

Nine and a half acres may sound like adequate space for a 70,000-sf building, but when that acreage is shoehorned into a narrow corridor, problems can quickly arise. Such was the case for the LA Metro Division 14 Expo Light Rail Operations & Maintenance Facility.

To make the building site work, the design team needed to make as efficient use of the space as possible. Building spaces overlap over the rail yard and maintenance area and 34-foot-long moment frames span two tracks. Part of the building’s main hallway hangs over the maintenance area, as well.

To account for the OCS and pantograph and still meet California’s seismic requirements, open-span moment frames that allow train travel were used in the north-south direction in combination with brace frames in the other direction.

The design of the long, narrow building is more than just a product of its location. The facility goes beyond the basic functionality requirements of a typical operations and maintenance facility and promotes employee wellbeing and integrates into the surrounding neighborhood. The building incorporates plenty of natural light and is net-zero-energy ready and on track to attain LEED Gold certification.

Natural light played a huge role in the design team’s quest to incorporate the latest research in design for workplace wellbeing. Large skylights above the maintenance area fill the space with natural daylight while large roof vents naturally exhaust heated air. A floor-to-ceiling glazed curtain wall provides natural light and views to operations administrative offices, the control suite, and the operators room and amenities.

 

The site’s narrow dimensions heavily influenced the building’s design and led to the overlapping of some building spaces. Chang Kim photograph.

 

Building – Submitting firm, architect RNL Design Owner Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Structural engineer Nabih Youssef & Associates Structural Engineers MEP engineer Glumac

General Information – Size 70,000 sf Cost $100 million Construction time October 2011 to April 2016 Delivery method Design-bid- build

 

Return to the 2017 Building Team Awards landing page

Related Stories

| Aug 29, 2022

Montana becomes first U.S. state to approve 3D printing in construction

Montana is the first U.S. state to give broad regulatory approval for 3D printing in building construction.

Architects | Apr 22, 2022

Top 10 green building projects for 2022

The American Institute of Architects' Committee on the Environment (COTE) has announced its COTE Top Ten Awards for significant achievements in advancing climate action.

Concrete Technology | Apr 19, 2022

SGH’s Applied Science & Research Center achieves ISO 17025 accreditation for concrete testing procedures

Simpson Gumpertz & Heger’s (SGH) Applied Science & Research Center recently received ISO/IEC17025 accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) for several concrete testing methods.

2021 Building Team Awards | Jan 14, 2022

First public-private partnership project in Veterans Administration history saves $34 million in costs

LEO A DALY and McCarthy Building Companies head the project team for the Omaha VA Ambulatory Care Center in BD+C’s 2021 Building Team Awards.

Building Team Awards | Dec 8, 2021

A performing arts center celebrates a legendary rocker and his birthplace

Buddy Holly Hall in Texas receives BD+C’s Silver Building Team Award.

Building Team Awards | Dec 7, 2021

A rapid response to a health emergency

Baptist Hospital of Miami’s 233-bed Hope Tower receives BD+C’s Bronze Building Team Award

Building Team Awards | Dec 3, 2021

Putting science on display, thanks to a design-build approach

UC Riverside’s Plant Growth Environments Facility receives BD+C’s Bronze Building Team Award.

Building Team Awards | Dec 2, 2021

An academic ‘precinct’ brings arts and sciences together

Wofford College’s Chandler Center for Environmental Studies receives BD+C’s Silver Building Team Award.

Building Team Awards | Dec 1, 2021

Denver sets the bar for water reclamation and reuse

A new administration building for the city’s water utility company scores Platinum in BD+C’s 2021 Building Team Awards.

2021 Building Team Awards | Nov 17, 2021

Caltech's new neuroscience building unites scientists, engineers to master the human brain

The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena wins a Gold Award in BD+C's 2021 Building Team Awards.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021