This project by Eric Owen Moss architects is part of the large ongoing Conjunctive Points Development in Culver City, California. The architects turned an old warehouse building into a headquarters for a national broadcaster.

The addition was added on top of the existing two-story structure complete with its undulating roofline. The complex geometry of the roof is fully exposed inside where all the individual beams and rafters are visible.

‘3555 Hayden’s site context is comprised largely of underdeveloped industrial and warehouse buildings. With the new addition, the building will function as the headquarters for a national broadcast company. This project is part of the ongoing Conjunctive Points development, an urban scale collaboration between the architect and developer which includes a business complex and multiple commercial and cultural projects. The primary zoning constraint for the project was the stipulated 43’ height limit. The form of the roof of the project was manipulated to comply with an average height overall but distribute volume where needed.

The purpose of the addition was to add post production space to an existing sound stage and thus provide the necessary facilities to accommodate the headquarters of a national broadcast company.

The existing two story building was structurally sized to allow future construction on the roof. To distribute the new load onto the existing roof a ‘foundation’ of steel beams is laid out around the perimeter of the new construction. From this, steel and wood columns extend up to support the new undulating roof. The complex roof geometry is defined by 42’ long glue-laminated wood beams at 12’ centers and 2x rafters at 16” centers. Each beam is laminated to a unique curvature and has a continuously changing CNC bevel on the top surface. A CNC marking process also lays out the rafters on a grid that averages out 16” centers across each curve. Rafters are installed both perpendicular to the beams and twisted to be perpendicular to the roof surface along their length. Each rafter has a CNC curve cut on one side, is notched on either end for hanging and coded to know where in the roof system it is located.

The wood structure is exposed on the interior and thus the skin is constructed as an insulated package. This skin is a sandwich construction of plywood shear diaphragm on the interior, cement board fire retardant sheathing on the exterior and rigid insulation between. Lastly, the waterproofing is an innovative spray applied fiberglass material – specially developed for this project – that conforms to the curved roof and offers a unique aesthetic with its glassy translucency.

Between the modules mullionless structural glass spans 6’ to create 42’ long skylights. On the North side of the project a courtyard is cut into the facade of the new building to allow natural lighting. This dramatically slanted glazing is an aluminum storefront system with steel reinforcement.’

More pictures: www.ericowenmoss.com.