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Port of Los Angeles Police Headquarters Earns LEED Gold

IRVINE and PORT OF LOS ANGELES, CA —The new, four-story, 92,000-square-foot Port of Los Angeles Police Headquarters, designed by Irvine-based MVE Institutional (MVEI) has earned a LEED-Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.  MVEI is an affiliate of Irvine-based MVE & Partners, one of California’s largest architecture firms.

            Factors leading to the rating for the $43.6-million headquarters include extensive natural light, rooftop photovoltaic systems, superior interior air quality, low-flow water fixtures, locally sourced and carefully selected construction materials, reduced heat-island effect, bio-swales and the use of drought-tolerant landscape throughout, among other green criteria.  The police facility is designed to use about 28 percent less energy than normally required, even under the State of California’s stringent Title-24 building codes.

            With extensive perimeter windows not practical due to security concerns, natural light was brought into the building through a central atrium that also acts as the heart of the police facility, a circulation hub, and a central focal point for staff.

            In addition to accommodating police activity, the facility has an “essential services” designation.  Thus, the building is mandated to be fully functional in the aftermath of manmade or natural disasters at the San Pedro port—the nation’s busiest cargo harbor, which includes 43 miles of waterfront and 7,300 acres of water channels, terminals, docks and rail yards.  Nearly 200 Port police attend to evolving security issues pertaining to cargo vessels, cruise ships, recreational boats, tankers, narcotics and terrorism.  The new facility replaces old space in the existing Port of Los Angeles Administration Building.

            The police headquarters also houses comprehensive physical training facilities, indoor shooting range, 911 dispatch center, surveillance units, special vehicle units and administrative offices.  Inside the facility, workspaces have been designed for maximum flexibility and adaptability to meet changing demands, and to limit the need for future reconstruction.  

            Through careful site development, MVEI also created a community asset.  Most security features—such as artful bollards—are unobtrusive, while a substantial clock tower provides a landmark to an adjacent landscaped civic plaza and charter high school.  A curving headquarters roof design resonates with the shapes of sails and other nautical or water features of the community, and there are public meeting rooms within the facility.  The main entry is sheathed in a three-story cylindrical glass tower, suggesting an accessible lighthouse, a symbol of safety.

            MVEI also designed an adjacent two-story, 37,000-square-foot parking garage and one level of below-grade parking.  The Los Angeles Port Police are assigned to the City of Los Angeles Harbor Department, a city agency that governs the Port of Los Angeles.

            MVE Institutional provides civic planning and architecture solutions to improve communities and enhance the experience of all participants.  The firm’s specialized institutional focus builds on more than 40 years of MVE & Partners’ experience working with private industry and public agencies, including military, religious, transportation, education, and redevelopment entities.  MVE Institutional understands that civic and educational environments are the foundation of any community and form the backdrop against which residents live, learn, work, worship and play.  MVE Institutional is dedicated to the creation of meaningful places that serve the needs of both the individual and the community.

 

Project Team

Client: Port of Los Angeles

Architect: MVE Institutional

Interior Designer: MVE Institutional

General Contractor: FTR International

Construction Management: DMJM/IEM Construction Management

Mechanical Engineer: TKSC Engineering

Electrical Engineer: TMAD Taylor & Gaines

Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers

Acoustical Engineer: Martin Newsom

Civil Engineer: Ashba Engineers Ltd.

Landscape Architect: Melendrez Design Partners

Geotechnical Consultant: GPI

LEED Consultant: CTG

Photographer: Anthony Gomez

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