Engineering News-Record (ENR) California honored two of our recently completed Southern California Region projects–the Delta Sky Way Program at LAX and the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine Education Building II!
Delta Sky Way Program at Los Angeles International Airport
The Delta Sky Way Program at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) won a 2024 Best Projects Award in the Best Airport/Transit category, an Excellence in Safety Award and an Excellence in Sustainability Award of Merit. As one of the largest infrastructure projects in Los Angeles, the Delta Sky Way Program began by relocating Delta Air Lines from Terminals 5 and 6 to Terminals 2 and 3, accommodating their growing operations and goal of elevating the guest experience. The overarching vision was to provide a Southern California experience through a light-filled journey that embraced the unique location. The result is a new 27-gate, 1.2-million-square-foot facility consolidating Terminals 2 and 3 and reimagining the customer journey from curb to gate. Guests now enjoy the enlarged concourses with more automated security lanes and gate area seating, spacious hold rooms with daylight and views, state-of-the-art amenities, modernized facilities, a world-class concession program in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) and an award-winning, state-of-the-art Delta Sky Club–one of the largest in Delta’s system.
The Delta Sky Way team incorporated a comprehensive sustainability strategy to exceed LEED Silver, meet all state CalGreen requirements and ordinances of the City of Los Angeles and showcase its commitment to environmental responsibility. The project team conducted embodied carbon assessments to monitor the construction processes’ Global Warming Potential (GWP). Notably, the adaptive reuse of the 1958 Satellite Building halved the embodied carbon compared to performing construction on an entirely new build. The implemented sustainability measures resulted in up to 26% energy savings, an estimated 45% reduction in potable water consumption and significant waste reduction.
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine Education Building II
The University of California, Riverside School of Medicine Education Building II won a 2024 Best Projects Award of Merit in the Higher Education/Research category and an Excellence in Sustainability Award of Merit. The new building fulfills UC Riverside’s mission to train a diverse workforce of physicians to support the medically underserved Riverside County region. The building creates a new home for the medical school by incorporating a wide range of team-based student learning spaces, social spaces and departmental offices for faculty and staff into one 90,000 SF, five-story structure. Strategically located and highly visible on campus, the building amplifies the School of Medicine’s identity as a forward-thinking medical school and showcases the power and promise of a medical degree to undergraduates and community members.
The building was designed with long-term effectiveness to ensure it will remain fully functional for generations while minimizing its carbon footprint. Located in a drought-prone region, the building defends and restores the site’s natural vegetative conditions. Its transparency and shading optimizes passive elements of light, prevailing breezes and solar heat gain. The interiors and exteriors utilize durable, easy-to-maintain, sustainable building materials and healthy, low/no-VOC materials that promote healthy interior air quality and performance. A 200-kilowatt solar array on the roof contributes to its efficiency. The building will achieve LEED Platinum certification through its diversity of sustainability strategies in all building systems.