The Culver City Oasis is a mixed-use project comprising approximately 220 market rate residential units over retail, including a new supermarket concept store. The project's design was completed early this year and has since been undergoing value engineering. My role at wHY on this project has been to clarify the original design intent and preserve it's main features as we move through VE, Comprehensive Plan submittal and Schematic Design.
My own interpretation of the original scheme has been to strengthen the use of variable vertical rhythms to paradoxically create horizontality. This has allowed us to make consistent decisions about what can stay and what can go. I further pushed back on the AOR and structural engineering team to ensure that two 30' shear walls did not grace the primary project facade along Sepulveda Blvd. Instead, we proposed a series of 12' shear walls, which have since become moment frames, thanks to further analysis from or pre-con team.
