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Luxe New Student Housing Community Breaks Ground Near USC

School News — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:34:29 +0000

By SCN Staff

LOS ANGELES—Landmark Properties has begun construction on The Standard at Los Angeles, located at 3900 S Figueroa St. only a few blocks south of the University of Southern California (USC) campus in Los Angeles. The firm will build a new, mid-rise apartment building with 1,236 beds across 429 units while renovating five existing townhomes comprising 48 beds. Landmark Construction, the in-house general contractor for Landmark Properties, is managing construction on The Standard at Los Angeles with an expected opening of August 2026. The architect on the project is HED.

“We’ve been looking for opportunities near USC for a long time and we’re excited to be able to deliver a project of this scale to the students of USC,” said Wes Rogers, President and CEO of Landmark Properties. “The location boasts remarkable access to academics, athletics and neighborhood amenities while the size of our site will allow us to deliver something truly unique to the market.”

Situated at the east side of the 160-acre Exposition Park – boasting world-class museums, educational and sport and entertainment venues such as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and BMO Stadium – The Standard at Los Angeles will include a mix of floorplans ranging from studios to five-bedroom floorplans. Residences at The Standard at Los Angeles will be fully wired for high-speed internet. Every unit will feature luxury vinyl tile flooring, Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats, private baths and in-unit washer/dryers as well as gourmet kitchens with ample cabinet space, stainless steel appliances and quartz countertops.

The amenity package at The Standard at Los Angeles will be one of the largest by square footage in Landmark’s portfolio, including over 60,000 square feet of interior and exterior amenity space. On the rooftop, residents have access to a resort-style outdoor pool area with a sun deck, Jumbotron and outdoor grilling stations. The expansive clubhouse spaces will be anchored by the rooftop clubroom adjoining the 24-hour fitness center with an on-demand yoga/fitness studio. In addition to multiple study lounges throughout the interior space, The Standard at Los Angeles will give the students opportunity to unwind or study al fresco in an interior courtyard with various seating areas and a micro-market for grab-n-go dining convenience. Covered garage parking will also be available to residents. The project will be designed to LEED Silver standards as a part of Landmark’s overall commitment to sustainable development.

The Standard at Los Angeles is Landmark Properties’ second community in Los Angeles. The firm’s first foray into the Los Angeles market, The Mark at Los Angeles, serves the University of California Los Angeles campus.

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2028 Olympic Games to Use UCLA Student Housing

School News — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 14:00:20 +0000

LOS ANGELES — “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now,” wrote personal time management guru Alan Lakein. It would seem the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic Games and administrators at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have taken the words to heart — the organizations have already been exploring how the campus will morph into the athlete village for that year’s games.

The notion of using an existing facility rather than erecting a new housing complex for the olympians is relatively novel for the games, which generally create temporary or purpose-built athlete housing, observed aquatic sports magazine in a recent report.

With an annual enrollment of 45,000 students, with 11,000 undergraduates presently living on campus, the campus’ existing student housing is a natural choice to house the competitors, which numbered about 11,000 olympic and and 4,000 paralympic competitors in 2016. Moreover, the university’s campus, nestled in the commercial Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, includes five dining halls and five casual eating areas as well as nine athletics facilities, which will be available for training purposes.

Also lending student housing to the Olympic cause is University of Southern California (USC), which has an annual student population of 44,000 (19,000 undergraduate) and will provide housing for media among others.

As reported in a , the USC campus recently underwent a massive, $700 million development project, including the new USC Village, which combines residential college living for 2,500 students. During the summer months, when students are no longer on campus, the real estate could be available to athletes.

Using pre-existing, if seasonally underutilized, facilities is not without precedent. During the 1984 Olympic Games, which were also hosted in L.A., organizers implemented a similar strategy when they installed the Olympic village on USC’s campus and the Athletes Village on UCLA’s campus, respectively.

Some of UCLA’s facilities will also be used for the 2028 competitions. The 12,500-capacity Pauley Pavilion, an indoor arena primarily used for basketball, will host wrestling and judo, for example.

Check out the video below for more info regarding the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Village at UCLA.

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Hawaii Begins First Net-Zero High School Project in Maui

MAUI, Hawaii — Work began on Maui’s Kihei High School on Jan. 11 after decades of petitioning and planning, according to . The new high school will serve ninth- to 12th-grade students with an enrollment capacity of approximately 1,650 students and 206 staff and faculty.

Efforts to build the new school have been underway since the early 1990s. Representative Kaniela Ing, D-South Maui, told Maui Now that the facility will be more than just a school, and will also serve the community by providing both a gymnasium and a stadium. He added that offering sports and activities would bring young people together and give them a better sense of belonging.

The project, which will cost an estimated $130 million, has already seen funding problems due to unforeseen fiscal challenges and administrative changes. “The scale of this project is an enormous,” Rep. Ing told Maui Now. “Sometimes things happen that are out of your control, but all you can do is be transparent with the community, never get discouraged and keep moving forward. The important thing is it is happening now.”

In 2014, when Gov. David Ige assumed office, his department chose to take a phased approach to the school’s construction. The first phase of construction will be allotted $30 million to cover expenses related to groundwork, well construction and establishing an access road to the site. Additional funds, which will likely be allotted in the next legislative session, will be used to construct classrooms and administrative buildings. Depending on the final design and cost of materials, however, the project may not require the full $130 million allocation.

When complete, Kihei High School will be the first net-zero high school in Hawaii, according to Ing, and will be powered by clean and renewable energy sources. Ing told Maui Now that he believes this new high school will set an example for what other new schools should look like in the future.

If the project remains on schedule, the school will be completed in 2018.

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First Net-Zero School in Arizona to Open in 2012

FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz.— Col. Smith Middle School, part of the Fort Huachuca Accommodation School District (FHASD) in Arizona, will be the first net-zero energy school in the state.

The $20 million project broke ground in August 2011 and is targeted for completion in August 2012.

Mesa, Ariz.-based Emc2 Group Architects Planners, PC is the architect of record and Fanning Howey of Indianapolis, Ind., is the architect of design for the project. 3W Management based in Mesa, Ariz. is the owner’s representative and program manager. Turner Construction Co.’s Tempe, Ariz., office is also working on the project as the construction manager at risk. It has taken one year of conceptual design and a total of three years in the making to break ground at the site.

The school will achieve net-zero energy through methods including sensor-controlled lighting, watching plug loads, and producing energy through solar panels and wind turbines, as well as a cost-effective layered daylight program.

Tony Wall, president of 3W Management and program manager, says the school will accumulate an estimated 30 to 40 percent savings in energy costs per year and that many schools are interested in the money saving aspect of the design. The positions of the windows and the use of skylights throughout the 95,000-square-foot school will provide natural lighting that will significantly reduce energy costs by eliminating the need to turn on classroom lights.

Col. Smith will be the third school in the FHASD and includes sixth through eighth grades. A total of 450 students are expected to enroll for the Fall 2012 semester.

Fort Huachuca is also home to an army base with future plans of having a net-zero energy installation that focuses on zero energy, water and waste by 2025. The army project is much bigger than the middle school but both look to save money and reduce carbon footprints.

Col. Smith will be the first school in Arizona — and only the twelfth in the United States — to reach net-zero energy.

“Everyone in the community is very excited about it. It’s a military community and it really fits with the energy goals of both the school and the army base,” said Dr. Ronda Frueauff, superintendent of FHASD.

Energy-efficient features include water harvesting, green products and a naturally illuminated building, as well as a dashboard that will allow students to monitor energy conservation. Classrooms will be equipped with iPad 2s that visually monitor energy use throughout the school.

“The building of a net-zero school will also have benefits for the students by providing them real world information for projects regarding energy and they’ll be able to analyze the information right in front of them,” said Wall.

Wall says the use of net-zero energy is a big step for Fort Huachuca and there’s been interest from other schools about the steps they need to take to create a net-zero energy campus’ of their own.

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Zero-energy classroom Earns Praise in CA

Marin Country Day School’s philosophy is to teach and instill a love of nature by living in it. And now the Corte Madera, Calif., elementary and middle school can do so in the first zero-energy classroom building in North America.

Situated on 35 acres — within its own watershed that runs from the ridge of Ring Mountain to the San Francisco Bay — the independent co-ed school has been educating students since 1956. With a vision to create a library and classrooms that would not simply be a structure of learning, but become part of the curriculum, MCDS enlisted San Francisco-based architecture firm EHDD and Richmond, Calif.-based general contractor Oliver and Co. to achieve their goal of emphasizing buildings and landscapes equally.

The two-phased $25 million project, which was completed in December 2009, was so successful, it earned LEED Platinum certification by the United States Green Building Council.

“It’s completely in line with our mission to work toward a better world,” says Ann Borden, MCDS director of admissions. “Research shows that excellent indoor air quality, acoustics and daylighting create learning environments in which students are more focused and alert, and miss fewer days of school.”

MCDS and EHDD developed a 25-year campus master plan that enabled the school to find appropriate solutions to its short-term space and program needs while keeping in mind its long-term goals.

“Over the years the school has grown in the size of our student body and staff,” says Borden. “We continually assess and evolve our curriculum and have added a number of new or enhanced programs to support student learning and advance our mission. As a result, we were experiencing acute space shortages for existing programs, as well as constraints on future program growth.”

Faculty members also noted opportunities for new ways of working with its 540 students that would flow from larger classrooms, and pointed to the lack of a faculty workroom/lounge as limiting opportunities to discuss curriculum and new ideas.

“Our recently completed construction project addressed these immediate needs as well as incorporating sustainable building practices and supporting our strategic initiatives — environmental sustainability, technology and community connections — and programmatic goals for educating students in a rapidly changing world,” says Borden.

One fundamental design decision for the project was to build only within the previously developed footprint of the campus and not encroach on the hillsides or other natural areas of the surrounding site. New buildings were built on infill sites or on sites created by deconstructing existing buildings, which provided for a denser campus by developing two-story elements where one-story elements once stood.

Construction on the multi-phased master plan began in 2007 and included 33,000 square feet of new construction and a series of renovations. Step (or phase) 1 on the west side of the campus, which is LEED Gold certified, included construction of a multipurpose room annex for community meetings; a kitchen expansion; new and renovated music classrooms; a recording studio and practice room; faculty lounge and work room; transportation and custodial space, as well as an industrial arts area. There are also new administrative offices and enhanced areas for outdoor learning and environmental sciences.

LEED Platinum certified Step 2 on the east side of the campus, which began in July 2008, consisted of the new zero-energy Learning Resource Center.

General contractor Oliver and Co. demolished the library, classrooms and studio buildings, but recycled 85 percent of the materials. Upper school classrooms were enlarged and there are new second grade classrooms, a new lower playground and an expanded step-up area courtyard.

Tom Angelo, executive vice president for Oliver and Co., cited the short construction schedule as the main challenge. For instance, Step 1 commenced and was completed while the school was occupied, including summer months. This required enhanced security requirements and safety checks due to the presence of students and teachers.

“Phase 2 work was land locked by existing school buildings,” he adds. “The only access was over an existing creek. Therefore a temporary bridge had to be designed, engineered, permitted and built to allow concrete trucks, pump trucks, water trucks, drilling rigs, transport trucks, excavators and cranes to cross over the creek in order to access the site — all without the slightest interference or damage to the creek and environment.”

Of particular importance was the restoration of the school’s creek to a more organic state. This involved removing a concrete channel, widening the bed and lowering the peak level by nearly two feet. A series of pools along the water’s course were added to further slow its progress to the bay and prevent erosion.

“Many precautions were put in place prior to starting the project,” says Angelo. “The creeks were checked and monitored on a daily basis to ensure compliance to all codes and regulations. And we constructed a new rock-fall-protection fence on a very steep hillside with absolutely no access for heavy equipment. Therefore all work was performed by small portable equipment.”

Star Pupil

Without a doubt, the centerpiece of the entire project is the 13,600-square-foot Learning Resource Center that houses the library, high-performance classrooms, art studios and student services — with the goal of reaching net-zero energy.

Reaching zero-energy essentially means that a building consumes less energy annually than is produced onsite. Zero energy is also the new benchmark for energy performance, exemplifying how buildings should be designed in the future and to reach California state climate change goals.

The center’s main entry — on the west elevation of the two-story structure — encloses an atrium, stairs and an art gallery behind a glazed façade. Low-emissivity glass and deep louvers prevent solar heat gain, while allowing natural light in and views out to the landscape. The energy produced at the school by a photovoltaic solar array will be more than the center will consume.

“The main strategy was to reduce our energy usage as aggressively as possible and then make up the difference with renewable energy sources — in our case photovoltaics,” explains Ken Powelson, EHDD project architect. “Without reducing our energy consumption, we would not be able to cover our energy needs with photovoltaics within any reasonable footprint. Many of our energy-reduction strategies — such as extensive use of natural daylighting to reduce the dependence on electric lighting — actually increase the comfort and livability of the space. Energy reduction does not have to impose hardships on users.”

As for the challenges encountered, Powelson says many of the team’s plans required extensive integration of design strategies among various consultants and client support.

“The reliance of natural ventilation as a cooling strategy, for instance, required the client to understand that the campus facilities and users would have to be involved in maintaining the building to optimal comfort levels.”

Natural ventilation required the extensive collaboration between the architect and the mechanical engineer, Stantec, to ensure that the buildings were narrow enough to allow effective cross-ventilation and had enough operable windows in the correct locations. It also required the collaboration of structural engineer, Tipping Mar, to make sure there was enough concrete in the slabs to provide sufficient thermal capacity to absorb the required amount of heat energy.

Energy use can be computer monitored in real time to improve building operation and provide students with information on their own environmental footprint. Additionally, rainwater is collected from the roofs and stored in an underground 15,000-gallon cistern that feeds graywater to toilets and acts as a heat sink to cool the building. Water travels through pipes in an in-floor radiant cooling system that uses roughly ten percent of the energy of a traditional compressor.

LEED Status

Achieving LEED certification is no easy feat: Gold requires 44 points, while Platinum requires 58 points, a substantial increase considering that some points are much more difficult to achieve than others.

“Essential to our strategy was to gain all 12 energy-reduction points,” says Powelson. “Many of our energy strategies contributed synergistically to our LEED goals. For instance, natural ventilation was a renewable energy strategy that helped reduce our energy consumption as well as provide occupancy comfort and greater indoor air quality — and an increased ventilation point.”

Daylighting and a reduction in electric lighting also provided multiple points for energy reduction, while stormwater design and reductions in irrigation water use were complementary strategies.

“With so many moving parts and such high LEED goals, timing was always the largest obstacle,” says Borden. “Any large-scale construction project can be expected to encounter obstacles, but we were fortunate to complete the project on schedule and within budget.”

Adds Scott Shell, EHDD principal in charge, “It’s inspiring that the school itself became a teaching tool. Ultimately, the new buildings are both a physical manifestation of and an ongoing inspiration for our commitment to creating ecologically literate students and creating transformative new curriculum around educating for sustainability. As students and adults will attest, they’re also some pretty cool places to hang out and connect.”