42XX Office Building
Westside Renaissance
This dynamic infill project, owned by The Bradmore Group, is located in a light industrial neighborhood undergoing a significant renaissance on the Westside of Los Angeles. The goal of the development is to serve the neighborhood with creative office space, a cafe with parking provided at grade and in structures, and generous bicycle amenity space.
This forward-thinking development is not solely self-referential; its boundaries are permeable to create community with the surrounding businesses. With much of the adjacent neighborhood already in transition, the landscape and open spaces connect to the newly converted creative office and live-work community.
The project’s primary goal is to create a vibrant creative community with buildings connected by pedestrian-oriented open spaces. Tenants and workers can enjoy new amenities like pocket parks and outdoor gathering spaces.
Ultimately the project anticipates future trends, such as autonomous driving, and considers them in its long-term strategy. If demand for parking decreases, the parking program can become retail, commercial, light manufacturing, or housing.
RIOS addresses sustainability by using a hybrid cross-laminated timbers (CLTs) structural system in the design.
Rethinking the Grid
In the design of 42XX, we partnered with Holmes Structures to rethink the typical office structural grid. The hybrid design takes advantage of the specific properties of mass timber, steel, and concrete to reduce the overall global warming potential and weight. The lightweight material of CLT will reduce the carbon footprint and establish the legacy of the place with a warm and authentic palette. By designing the hybrid structure instead of concrete-only, we saved the equivalent of removing 21 cars from driving for one year.
Space for Trees
Designed as a place to work, 42XX also brings an appreciation for nature. The site leaves 45% of its area open to the sky with 12,000 sq. ft. of intensive landscaping integrating 33 fully grown mature trees into a family of interlocking courtyards and paseos that meander around the individual buildings. While this is good for occupant health and wellness, this measure also reduces the sitewide embodied energy footprint. The trees are estimated to have sequestered 23 tons of CO₂ based on their weight at arrival, accounting for roughly one-third of the total building structure’s embodied emissions. Designed with both building and landscape in mind, the result is open, airy, and adaptable spaces that provide a promising future.
