Project Data:

Completion Date:     10/2/2026

Square Footage:      10000

Building Use:           Campus-Wide Central Plant Upgrade and Energy Efficient Expansion at East Los Angeles College for LACCD

Project Description:

The PROJECT
The East Los Angeles College (ELAC) Central Utility Plant (CUP) Expansion will provide electrical and mechanical systems upgrades to enable a high-performance utility service for the campus in order to accommodate additional cooling and heating capacity (supplementing the cooling and heating capacity of the existing central plant). This additional capacity is intended to serve the current needs of the campus, as well as the additional needs that will be introduced by future planned facility expansion. This expanded CUP is envisioned to serve as the sole source of cooling and heating for the entire ELAC campus, and meet Los Angeles Community College District’s (LACCD) aggressive carbon-neutral goals. Upgrades will include the demolition/reconfiguration of parts of the existing central plant, a 4,000 sf addition to the existing plant (including a meeting space, restrooms, control room, and support spaces), and water-wise site improvements.

The DESIGN INTENT
At the core of this aspirational design is the commitment to legacy. How will we elevate the lives of a community through design and creativity? Located in East Los Angeles, in a neighborhood that has been the center of immigrant and disadvantaged populations for decades, ELAC provides the foundation to build community through education and shared culture. While the campus instructional buildings house the programs that are the basis for the covenant between town and gown, the Central Plant is the heart of its operation. An enhancement to this essential component is the extension of an educational commitment. Story-telling components are visible to students and staff, explaining the technical and fundamental composition of the engineered design. This replacement CUP offers the function of a state of the art utility plant that heats and cools all buildings on campus, while opening the story of its function to all who pass by. It celebrates, through sophisticated design, that even the most pragmatic and functional elements of our infrastructure deserve design excellence. The new CUP provides an enhanced energy and water reduction strategy, and technically advanced control systems, that will significantly reduce future resource consumption, including rainwater collection that flows to the planted areas as stormwater detention and distribution. Growing from the inside out, the shape, skin, orientation and materials are all a reflection of primary function while using that expression to articulate a sculptural form that elevates the campus environment. Healthy materials selections further reflect our dedication to embracing this building as the heart of a healthy community. The design’s commitment to sustainability is not only the completion and operation of a healthy, resilient and highly efficient, standalone project, but its ability to support the sustainability goals for the entire ELAC campus. This project is a key player within the greater Los Angeles Community College District’s goals to reduce resource consumption and move toward Net Zero. This new CUP embraces the opportunity to positively impact the utility load for an entire campus to impart a lasting influence on energy savings and conservation.

Firm Name:              Perkins Eastman Architects

Completion Date:     10/2/2026

Square Footage:      10000

Building Use:           Campus-Wide Central Plant Upgrade and Energy Efficient Expansion at East Los Angeles College for LACCD

Location:                 Los Angeles

Project Description:
Design for Integration:
Bringing beauty and functional balance to an existing community college campus is the goal of this simple but complicated engineered core complex. Why can’t a central plant be an integral center of a campus? This project provides a legacy technology/engineering story to establish District-wide goals for improved campus energy efficiency. The design gesture is deliberate.

Design for Economy:
To implement a new engineered prototype for all LACCD campuses is the pursuit of economy, efficiency and sustainability, system-wide on all campuses. This campus has been chosen as the flagship in its service to an underserved community as an example of the economic possibilities that lay ahead for all campuses.

Design for Energy:
Energy efficiency is inherent in the mission of a central plant that supports the energy and engineered building systems throughout this community college campus, to every building. With the overlay of new energy technologies, the operational energy efficiency for ELAC will be dramatically improved for ongoing campus operations, with the flexibility to be continuously upgraded over time. This is a survival issue, and the tools are available today.

Design for Change:
The time for change is now. This first of many campus central plant upgrades represents the commitment of this public owner to make changes throughout the District to improve/reduce rates of consumption, to enhance infrastructure, to reduce the costs and consumption of ongoing maintenance and operations, and to reduce the economic impacts of the ongoing support of public facilities. This change must happen in order for us to achieve our goals. The example set by this project will serve as a template for others.

Design for Discovery:
This project provides the opportunity for learning and discovery. Dramatically located along a major thoroughfare at the edge of campus on the public side, and by a major internal vehicular and pedestrian path of travel on-campus, it only made sense to take advantage of the visibility with an educational discovery moment. In lifting the sun-shading screen to reveal the heart of the Central Plant control center, changeable story boards can be seen by students and staff as they walk by, describing the operational methodologies and on-demand performance of the plant. These boards can be changed to reflect current issues related to weather, programmatic and other external influences. On the public side is the very visible planted slope, acting as a rain water detention basin dotted with drought-tolerant drip-irrigated California native planting. The dramatic “green screen” speaks to sustainability and innovation.

Design Architect:
Diego Matzkin, AIA, LEED AP

Associate Architect or Firm:
Perkins Eastman
3194 D. Airport Loop Dr.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 427-0277

Landscape Architect:
NUVIS
20250 SW Acacia Street, Suite 260
Newport Beach, CA 92260

Owner / Developer:
Los Angeles Community College District
East Los Angeles College
1200 W. Floral Dr.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Engineer:
Brandow & Johnston - Civil Engineering
700 Flower St. #1200
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 596-4500

MHP - Structural Engineering
3900 Cover St.
Long Beach, CA 90808
(562) 985-3200

P2S, Inc. - Commissioning
5000 E. Spring St. 8th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90815
(562) 497-2999

General Contractor:
ACCO Engineered Systems
888 E. Walnut St.
Pasadena, CA 91101
(818) 244-6571

Consultant:
Not applicable

Photographer:
Not applicable