This project replaces an obsolete Department of Motor Vehicles facility in Inglewood, California with the first new Zero Net Energy building designed for the DMV and California Department of General Services. A broad overhanging canopy with photovoltaic solar panels powers the building, shades glazing, protects exterior driver testing and queue areas and provides a dramatic new image for the DMV.
The sustainable design approach reduces energy use, generates on-site renewable supply, eliminates operational carbon, while also creating an inspiring workplace and public experience with controlled natural light. The long, narrow building allows efficient operations and clear wayfinding while improving site circulation and accessibility.
The building is organized into a public service zone, an employee zone, and a transaction counter where the two meet. Over the full-length counter is an angled display wall and identification signage of service stations. The linear organization of the service counter provides clear orientation for the customers and good visibility by staff of activity in the hall and exterior. Strategic use of generous clerestory openings above staff stations at the counter and a glazed wall facing parking and the street creates a public hall that is naturally lit and easily visible for enhanced security.
Natural light is available in all occupied spaces and the shape of the underside of the canopy modulates its distribution over staff service stations and the public hall. End walls provide access to staff parking on one side and driver testing on the other while offering additional controlled natural light. Walls of glazed concrete masonry units act as structural shear elements for the steel frame and form volumes that include staff and service spaces. The 2.5-acre, parallelogram-shaped site is bound by a major commercial street in the front and two flanking side streets with low-rise industrial and residential uses. An existing driveway in the front is eliminated to create a safe pedestrian sidewalk with a bus stop.
Vehicle entrances are relocated to the side streets and public parking is treated as a landscaped forecourt to the building that provides clear perception of the entrance and pedestrian pathways. Drought tolerant landscaping shades the parking area and uses less than 16% of the water typically consumed for such a project. Palo Verde trees that form the parking canopy feature seasonal yellow blossoms to complement the building palette that adopts the yellow and blue palette found in historic California license plates.
Category:ArchitectureYear:2024Location: Inglewood, California, USAArchitects:Paul Murdoch ArchitectsDesign Team:Paul Murdoch, Milena Murdoch, Eric Cunningham, Kin Lee, Miroslav Minkov, Charles Lee, Lubi Dimitrova, and Helen HyonClient:California Department of General ServicesImages:Courtesy of the Architects