The Letterman Digital Center began as a George Lucas dream. He wanted to give his employees an incomparable work environment. He selected Master Planner Gensler Architects, Urban/Landscape Architect Lawrence Halprin, Architect of Record HKS and Parking Planner Watry Design to make his dream a reality.
A first of its kind, the project is a private development within a National Park that was once the historic Letterman Hospital. In response to the challenge of providing 1,500 parking stalls as a "nonevent" and maintaining as much of the park's green space as possible, the Watry team designed parking directly under each of the Lucasfilm buildings. This creative solution protected 14.7 acres of green space that includes the Great Lawn, a lagoon, a belvedere, view areas and pedestrian paths that are all accessible to the public. Surface solutions would have eliminated 11.5 acres of the beautiful park.
Watry Design prepared functional parking design drawings and parking control equipment analysis. Webcor Builders constructed the concrete shell within 10 months and spent the next 26 months on the remainder of the project. Through the hard work of all involved, the Letterman Digital project achieved a LEED "Gold" certification.
The project includes 1 million square feet of office space and the parking includes MEP support services, security office, and storage
The work was performed by Watry Design Group.
Project Details
- Owner: George Lucas, Lucasfilm, Inc.
- Master Planner: Gensler, Lawrence Halprin
- Design Architect: HKS Architects
- Contractor: Webcor Builders
- Project Status: Completed 2006
- Parking Stalls: 1,500
- Levels: 3
- Total Sq Ft: 650,000
- Total Project Cost: $34,650,000
- Per Stall Cost: $23,100
