DWP La Kretz Innovation Campus
Los Angeles       
AWARD OF MERIT


Owner Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power
Lead Designer John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects
Contractor USS Cal Builders Inc.
Civil Engineer VCA Engineers Inc.
Structural Engineer Mackintosh & Mackintosh Inc.
MEP Engineer BuroHappold Consulting Engineers
Landscape Architects AHBE Landscape Architects
Laboratory Consultant O’Boyle Smith Lab Planning


The DWP La Kretz Innovation Campus is a new kind of facility for the city of Los Angeles and one of the few like it globally. The clean-tech industry hub allows entrepreneurs, engineers and policymakers to collaborate on and promote green technologies. Located in the city’s Arts District, the renovated 60,000-sq-ft building includes a photovoltaic-solar parking canopy, greywater filtration, bioswale and microgrid systems.

Construction components were left exposed to provide an educational backdrop for state-of-the-art prototyping and manufacturing workshop spaces as well as training facilities. More than 98% of waste materials were reused or recycled during demolition and construction.

When additional funding became available to the owner, the project team redoubled its coordination to incorporate scope changes without delaying the building’s firm completion date.

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