ICON at Sunset Bronson Studios
Hollywood, Calif.             
Best Project

Owner: Hudson Pacific Properties
Lead Design Firm: Gensler
General Contractor: McCarthy Building Cos.
Civil Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Structural Engineer: Englekirk Structural Engineers
MEP Engineer: ARC Engineering Inc.

ICON at Sunset Bronson Studios is an office high-rise with a creative twist. Fully leased by Netflix, the building includes digital production facilities and a 13-story atrium.

The property’s unique combination of office, stage and production space provides an ideal setting for Netflix’s next phase of growth and content creation, says company CFO David Wells.

ICON’s basic design offsets the foundation floor plates to create staggered boxes with multiple outdoor terraces. The horizontal shifts in the building’s structure create terraces on several floors, and the highest box is the most offset, to create a grand terrace with views of the city.

A unique enclosure system, consisting of thin-shell precast concrete panels mounted on a steel frame, reduced the time needed to enclose the building. The steel subframe was fabricated off site and installed across multiple floors without the need for continuous inter-story joints. This enclosure system saved time and contributed to the facade’s non-homogenous checkerboard look.

The building’s long-span concrete structural system with shallow flat beams provides for column-free space 46 to 52 ft deep. The atrium extends the full height of the building with a continuous interconnecting stair.

The project team also relocated a landmark radio tower and restored the 1920s-era Warner Brothers mansion, which is located next door to ICON. The judges were especially impressed that ICON’s construction and restoration work took place on an active studio lot with ongoing productions and an adjacent 24/7 news radio station.

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