Kaiser MOB

The former three storied office of Nissan North America in Carson was retrofitted into a 180,000-square-foot, energy-efficient Kaiser Permanente Medical Office Building. As part of the design team, Cornerstone Studios was involved from preparation of landscape assessment report to the completion of construction. The exterior landscape was totally overhauled with new sustainable landscape design and smart irrigation system.

The overall planting design and the planting materials chosen created an opportunity to utilize water conservation principle to achieve sustainability. Drought tolerant and locally adapted tree species are strategically located as a way finding element to direct users and visitors around the facility.  Flowering shrubs and colourful succulents are used around the building in repeating geometric banding to complement the architecture and to provide colour accent.  Expanding on the existing design, continuous bandings of Mexican Beach Pebble were used around the building perimeter for aesthetics and to keep irrigation water away from the building and windows.

The entry courtyards, located in the east and west entry to the building, incorporate several functional elements such as overhead trellis, benches and potted planting to enhance the spatial quality.  The entry courtyard paving and planting layout follows the geometric planting pattern used around the building.

We closely coordinated with the architect and civil engineer.  We incorporated “Filterra” system in the parking lot as a part of BMP design for filtering on-site runoff.