Lauren Eckhart Smith of Alagem Capital Group | One Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills | Large-Scale Sustainable Design
Courtesy of Alagem Capital Group
Large-Scale Sustainable Design
In today’s episode, I discuss the topic of sustainability with my guest Lauren Eckhart Smith, the Head of Design at Alagem Capital Group in Beverly Hills, California. I also speak with her about One Beverly Hills, a mixed-use project that includes residential, retail, hotel and both new construction and renovation components. This project, located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, is a one-of-a-kind building with the most advanced technologies for health and sustainability.
Additionally, I discuss with Lauren how this particular 17.5-acre site is one of the largest projects incorporating sustainable design and architecture in California, far beyond the hand-waving that we see in our industry. She also shares with us her experience working with the City of Beverly Hills as well as her experience working on past jobs, such as designing the IAC Headquarters in New York by Frank Gehry, the Bloomberg LP Headquarters in London by Norman Foster.
A new wave of sustainable building designs has emerged - and it's nothing compared to what we have seen in the past. Join us on today’s episode if you are interested to learn more as we dive into this topic, including Lauren’s personal experience working in the industry.
“I feel really fortunate to have been lucky enough to work on some of these incredibly iconic projects throughout my career. And really, you know, part of what I’ve learned is, and, and part of really why I got into this industry was to really contribute to the community that these buildings serve and really raising the level and inspiring others.”
Courtesy of Alagem Capital Group
About Lauren Eckhart Smith
Lauren Eckhart Smith is the Head of Design at Alagem Capital Group in Beverly Hills, California. After beginning her career at Gensler Associates, she spent a large portion of her career working on iconic buildings such as the IAC Headquarters in New York by Frank Gehry, the Bloomberg LP Headquarters in London by Norman Foster. Lauren is currently in charge of the design of One Beverly Hills, a master-planned and unsurpassed development at the gateway to Beverly Hills including 300 luxury residences, retail, a lifestyle members club and eight acres of botanical gardens.
Courtesy of Alagem Capital Group
Episode Timestamps
7:23 – You made the move from New York City to Los Angeles right before the pandemic started. So talk to us about that.
9:47 – You mentioned meeting Benny Allergan. How did that first interview go? What was that process like?
11:13 – So let's talk a little bit about the One Beverly Hills project. Give us an overview of Beverly Hills and of this particular site, which is at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard.
14:37 – The Chinese developer Wanda Group was working with Richard Meyer on a development plan here. Let's dig into that and how Allergan Capital Group gained control and what they did when.
17:51 – Talk to us about the design strategy.
20:44 – What was the prompt that you gave Norman Foster? And what's the overall scope of this project?
23:37 – A challenge in Los Angeles is making sure that buildings are prepared for earthquakes and other seismic issues. How did you guys think about the biggest challenges for the underground and the not-so-sexy parts of your design?
25:36 – Talk to us about the major materials that you are using throughout the site and how you are planning to mitigate supply chain problems that are plaguing major construction projects all across the United States.
28:45 – What does sustainability mean to you on such a monumental project?
32:02 – Let’s talk a little bit about one of those MEP systems, which is the heating system. How did you approach that particular aspect for this?
35:44 – Talk to us about the strategies for water use on your project.
39:30 – In a place like Southern California, which is increasingly prone to swings of temperature and also fire, how do you deal with fire risk?
Connect with Lauren Eckhart Smith:
LinkedIn (Lauren Eckhart Smith)
LinkedIn (Alagem Capital Group)
One Beverly Hills
Courtesy of Alagem Capital Group
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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