LA’s largest mass timber project is just days from opening— with 42XX campus, a massive infill project located in Marina del Rey, slated to open later this month.
Designed by RIOX, one of the world’s top architectural firms, the development is backed by private equity consortium The Bradmore Group—which last year secured US $117m in construction financing to help reactive LA’s Westside, an area considered “one of the most coveted and supply-constrained submarkets in Los Angeles.”
“The project’s primary goal is to create a vibrant, creative community with buildings connected by pedestrian-oriented open spaces,” according to RIOX’s design brief. “Ultimately, the project anticipates future trends, such as autonomous driving, and considers them in its long-term strategy.”
Featuring more than 151,000 square feet of office space and 1,500 square feet of retail space, RIOX has partnered with structural engineers Holmes Structures, experts in mass timber design and construction, to develop a hybrid office grid that combined cross-laminated timber, steel, and concrete to create a warm and lightweight building envelope that saved the equivalent of 262 cars off the road.
Involved in more than 130 mass timber projects worldwide, including Microsoft’s Silicon Valley, which was North America’s largest timber project, Wood Central understands that Holmes Structures established structural, fire, and safety standpoints—with the hybrid office grid design resulting in more than 70,000 tonnes of carbon benefit alone.
In addition to greener construction materials, the new project has pledged to retain 45% green space, including 12,000 square feet of intensive landscaping developed around 33 fully grown mature trees:
“While this is good for occupant health and wellness, this measure also reduces the sitewide embodied energy footprint,” according to RIOX. “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.”
Wood Central understands the 42XX campus is rare good news amid an increasingly tight market for US developers. On Tuesday, Wood Central reported that developers are now drowning under the weight of red tape, leading to an environment where private developers struggle to attract favourable project financing.
- To learn more about the push to build more American buildings out of timber, click here for Wood Central’s special feature. To learn more about the rise of the “Super Bungalows” – Los Angeles’s new cross-laminated timber take on the traditional Californian bungalow, click here.
