Los Angeles Valley College Monarch Center wins steel design award

The Los Angeles Valley College Monarch Center in Valley Glen has earned national recognition in the 2017 Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel awards program (IDEAS2). In honor of this achievement, members of the project team were presented with awards from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) during a July 25 ceremony.

“A vibrant and uplifting steel structure that takes full advantage of California’s climate and sunshine,” said David G. Allen, space and facilities manager with the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, and the owner juror in the competition.

The Monarch Center is a new hub of activity on the Los Angeles Valley College campus. The award citation says: “The dramatic, soaring architectural forms of this 41,000-sq.-ft student union showcase the versatility and elegance of structural steel as a building material. The U-shaped structure includes a health center, a cafeteria, a bookstore, a convenience store and administrative services, and the enclosed courtyard is topped with a sloping, butterfly-form canopy that reaches 41 ft above grade at its highest point.”

The project’s team members include:

Owner: Los Angeles Community College District, Valley Glen.
Owner’s representative: BuildLACCD, Monterey Park.
Architect and structural engineer: LPA, Inc., Irvine. (entered the project in the competition)
General contractor: McCarthy Building Companies Inc., Newport Beach.

The 13 IDEAS2 winners for 2017 were chosen from nearly 100 submissions received from architectural and engineering and other project team member firms throughout the U.S. Each submission is reviewed and award winners are selected by a nationally recognized panel of design and construction industry professionals.

The award dates back more than 50 years with AISC. “The beauty of this project is its lightness as the soaring elements of the building span and define great spaces inside and out,” said AISC president Charlie Carter. It’s the perfect storm of steel capability, design inspiration and construction perfection.”