Understanding the urgency for Ustream to open their Los Angeles office, Redesign coordinated a site-walk with Ustream and our preferred general contractor, O.C.G.C.  On a fast paced job like this you have to strategically skip certain steps you would normally take.  I encouraged Ustream not to bid out the project to multiple contractors and retain O.C.G.C as the general contractor.  During the site walk Ustream explained to the project team how they would like to utilize the office space.  Having all potential contractors on the initial site walk is beneficial. Once the pricing plans have been issued by the designer, the process will be delayed if you have to schedule time for additional contractors to view the space.

Typically, in a commercial building like this the landlord will have Cad backgrounds of the space that has been leased.  I knew it would take a week before I saw these plans and we didn’t have the time to waste so Mike and I decided to stay after the site-walk and field measure the office (see the as-built plan below for reference).  It’s very important to know the location of all elements when designing the space on a deadline.  It’s also a good idea to take as many photos as you can since there is nothing worse than making multiple trips to the job site to verify details.

The next step was to provide Ustream with a space plan, which outlined how I felt the space would work best for them.  Keeping in mind what we talked about on our initial site walk, the limited budget they were on, and all the existing elements that could be reused, I came up with the commercial space plan below.  My main concern was the entry/conference room as this will be most guests first impression of Ustream.  Everything on the commercial space plan below should be pretty self-explanatory.  Note: all yellow areas indicate ambient lighting above.

Commercial Space Plan

ustream initial space plan

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