The California Department of Motor Vehicle’s vision is to serve the public by providing quality licensing and motor vehicle-related services. Unfortunately, most DMV facilities are obsolete and provide a poor environment for customer experience and as a workplace. They tend to be dark, poorly organized and confusing spaces.
This project replaces an existing DMV facility in Inglewood, California with the first new Zero Net Energy building designed for the DMV. Using a solar car as inspiration for a new wave of sustainable and forward-looking DMV facilities, a broad overhanging canopy with photovoltaic solar panels powers the building, shades clerestory windows that provide natural lighting into the public hall and protects exterior driver testing and queue areas.
The long, narrow building allows efficient operations with clear way-finding while improving site circulation, parking and accessibility. Strategic use of generous glazed openings creates a public hall that is naturally lit and easily visible for enhanced security.
The 2.5-acre, parallelogram-shaped site is bound by a major commercial street in the front and two flanking side streets with low-rise industrial and residential uses. An existing driveway on La Brea Avenue is eliminated to create a safe pedestrian sidewalk with a bus stop. Vehicle entrances are relocated to the side streets and public parking is treated as a landscaped forecourt to the building that provides clear perception of the entrance and pedestrian pathways. Drought tolerant landscaping will shade the parking area and use less than 16% of the water typically consumed for such a project.
All the information about how to enter the 2020 WAN Awards is here.
We are very happy to offer support so please don’t hesitate to email Georgia, WAN Awards Event Coordinator with any questions at Georgia.Baily@haymarket.com.
Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WAN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding projects, take a look at the winners from last year here.