NBC
Universal
Los Angeles
California

zoetrope or stacked film canisters
circular center gathering
secret garden paths
stepped horizontal skyscraper

A curving truss sunshade called “the veil” spans 100 feet in this location, creating an outdoor room for dining.

Top floor event space reception area before all the furniture goes in. The exterior balcony forms a complete circular loop around the building, Six laps per mile if you’re counting.

Main theater space, collaboration with Shamshirri Studio.

The office building steps down the hill, while the parking garage is tucked partially underground at the bottom left. Stage 12 is a legacy soundstage and was renovated as part of the project. (Also where TV show ‘The Voice” was originally recorded.)

Corner of the office building west facade highlighting the horizontal sunshades for that wild California west light.

Good view of the wood supported windows during construction of the interior planters.

Open-air pavilions surrounded by gardens designed for meetings, lunch breaks or taking a nature bath.

Originally opened as "Universal City" on a 230-acre ranch in the San Fernando Valley, the campus is now known as the Universal Studios Lot and is home to both NBC Universal's offices and the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. This project was big: a new office building with massive terraces, an employee center for film screenings, dining, and events, and an expansive landscape connecting new and legacy elements of the site with garden workspaces and outdoor gathering areas.
For a few years, I was down in L.A. every other week for design meetings and collaboration with the local client team. I really miss that! The place, the people, the project: all very exciting. As design architect I led the design team at Lever Architecture, collaborating with Thomas/Founder and Doug/design director. There were so many elements to design that it felt like we were always working on something new. I could go on about this project, so I'll keep it brief and share some interesting bits in the image captions if you want to know more.

Details:
Office building 350,000 sf
Employee center 84,000 sf
HRA, L.A. Architect of Record
Field Operations, Landscape Architects
Status, completed 2024

Credits:
Work performed on behalf of Lever Architecture while under employment. Photography Ema Peter courtesy of Lever Architecture, except where marked with = LAMB.

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