Westwood Village

The proposed development located at the heart of the Westwood community's commercial center, is a truly mixed-use project in varied structures. The building program elements include a hotel, residential apartments, offices, retail shops, restaurants, entertainment and parking for 2,000 cars. The total building area is approximately 1.5 million square feet.

In response to the design requirements and guidelines set forth in the Westwood Specific Plan, all the building components will be built over a subterranean parking structure with five full levels and two partial mezzanine levels. The design also had to comply with complex height and setback requirements. One of the design challenges was to plan an efficient structural grid to accommodate the different building usages. Several building programs, parking schemes and building component layouts were studied. Each scheme was weighed against efficiency, cost effectiveness, and compliance with the design criteria. Different building materials and systems were also investigated to enhance the architectural design and maximize the building efficiency. Reinforced concrete was selected as the primary construction material for the hotel and the parking structure. However, structural steel construction is more efficient and economical for the office, entertainment and retail components, where long span and/or flexibility in space planning is desired.