Project Description

The 3401 La Cienega development – designed by SHoP Architects - features a 13-story, nearly 150-foot-tall residential building and a six-story, roughly 92-foot-tall office building. In total, the two mid-rise buildings comprise 260 residential units, approximately 227,000 square feet of offices, and 2,869 square feet of ground-floor retail space atop parking for 785 vehicles. The project also includes 22 units of deed-restricted very low-income affordable housing, as well as an additional 7 units to be reserved as workforce housing.

Project Challenges

RBG’s role included reviews of the demolition, shoring, excavation and basement design and construction methodologies, to determine if the proposed solutions were code-compliant, efficient, buildable, whilst being stable and safe during the various stages of construction. This assessment needed to take into account adjacent local buildings in continuous operation (e.g. See’s Candies to the south) a suspended Metro system to the north, and other significant existing utilities to the east under La Cienega Boulevard.

Added Value

RBG added value to the project by:

• Identifying, and then refining, project risks through demolition, shoring, and excavation
• Specifying suitable movement monitoring approaches and methodologies for excavation risk management
• Designing and detailing a number of temporary works items for the contractor, including suspended steel platforms, fences, and the like.