Main Street Chiat/Day

Venice, California

The Main Street Chiat/Day Project is the international headquarters for Chiat/Day Advertising, Inc. The building consists of three levels of office space above grade, and three levels of underground parking.

The office building consists of four organizational elements located above grade: a curved face "Boat" wing, the "Binoculars", the "Trees", and an "Office" wing. The  focal point of the building, the "Binoculars," is a 45 foot high organizational element, which defines the entrance to the parking garage, is flanked by the "Boat" and the "Trees".

Due to a height limit imposed by the Coastal Commission, the floor framing system consists of reinforced concrete two way flat slabs.  This reduces the floor-to-floor height to ten feet four inches for typical office levels.

The irregular "L" shaped site, the building forms on Main Street, traffic pattern restrictions, and the location of the parking ramps imposed by design, were among the challenges in developing a building grid which would not only maximize the parking count but also provide efficient office space in the above grade levels.

Seismic and wind induced forces are resisted by core walls and reinforced concrete shearwalls along the building perimeter.