LINE

Background

This project aims to renovate an existing GSA building in Los Angeles to reach net zero energy. LINE identified the existing problems of the campus and sought practical and expressive solutions to last for the next fifty years.

Design Solution

Atop the atrium, an operable ETFE panelized cover embedded with Building Integrated Photovoltaics regulates the heat gain within the space. In addition to the roof systems, the building exterior gets a face lift by replacing its minimally productive skin with a high performance exterior. These sustainable strategies are compared with the existing building output to demonstrate the efficacy of our moves to maximize efficiency and comfort, and therefore, productivity. Productivity has the capacity to add value, and value is essential for true growth of society in both the economic and cultural sense.

To clean both black and grey water, living machines were incorporated into the landscape. By lifting the buildings mass, air currents are diverted into the interior of the building, allowing hot air to be pushed out through the atrium roof and exterior envelope. This envelope is a system of operable fritted ETFE panels embedded with Building Integrated Photovoltaics.

In the core of the atrium the mechanical systems are celebrated and become functional sculpture within the building that reaches up to the canopy. This gesture displays the “motherboard” of the building to educate occupants, citizens and visitors as to how their sustainable system are working for them. By revamping and revealing the buildings elements, we offer an environment in which members of the community can fully understand and enjoy the rewards of a thriving and sustainable workplace.