Healthy California: Rios Clementi Hale Studios designs health foundation facility in Los Angeles

The basic tenets of the California Endowment, the state's largest private not-for-profit health foundation, are inclusiveness, diversity, accessibility, transparency, and good health. Rios Clementi Hale Studios, commissioned to design The Endowment's new multi-purpose facility, has translated these principles into its plans for the 118,000 usable-square-foot center, which recently broke ground in Downtown Los Angeles. The 6.5-acre campus, set to open in Spring 2006, will provide nonprofit organizations throughout California an array of meeting and learning facilities to promote good health.

"Our goal was to give expression to The California Endowment's mission of attaining good health care for all Californians," says Mark Rios, FAIA, ASLA, founding principal of Los Angeles-based Rios Clementi Hale Studios. The multi-disciplinary firm won the architecture and landscape commission through an invited competition. "The idea of healthiness pertains to all aspects of the project, including the ecologically responsible design and building processes." The building is being designed toward gaining LEED certification from the US Green Building Council.

While the building will house The Endowment's administrative and operational offices on its upper floors, approximately one-third of the facility will be dedicated to space for community use. A designated community conference and resource center will be open on the first floor, surrounding a 16,000-square-foot landscaped courtyard. The Center will include a 300-person multi-purpose meeting room, smaller meeting rooms, classrooms, training facilities, and a boardroom for associated nonprofits. These facilities will host development, training, and professional conferences for policymakers, health-care providers, advocacy groups, and civic leaders in a collaborative effort to address the pressing health issues facing Californians today.

In a series of interlocking geometric forms surrounding an urban garden, Rios Clementi Hale Studios has created a sustainable design that reflects the values of The Endowment. To communicate the value of transparency, the architects designed an open atrium in the center of the four-story glass building that provides a gathering space for employees and visitors. The atrium connects the surrounding offices and meeting spaces. Windows, patios, and flexible office space reinforce the notion of an approachable, transparent, and healthy work environment. The landscaped courtyard will be filled with gardens, trees, a fountain, and seating areas, providing an urban oasis for employees and visitors. Accessible from the street level, the courtyard will be a serene presence in bustling downtown Los Angeles. Meeting rooms, which surround the courtyard, will have an adaptable configuration, allowing visitors and conference attendees to spill out onto the courtyard.

The people, culture, and history of California are richly represented throughout the architectural detailing, building design, and site. To symbolize The Endowment's statewide constituency, the garden walls throughout the site incorporate distinctive stones culled from various regions in California, including the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada regions. The Center will be accessible to pedestrians to encourage people from neighboring communities to take advantage of The Endowment's resources. Other support services include free parking and a "child watch" area for parents attending meetings.

Situated adjacent to the historic Terminal Annex building, The California Endowment's new center is located at the crux of several ethnic and historic neighborhoods. The vibrant neighborhoods of Chinatown, Olvera Street, Little Tokyo, and El Pueblo de Los Angeles inspired the designers and directly influenced the color, texture, and scale of the project, giving an instant familiarity to visitors and employees.