Matt Construction

Orange County Business Journal, Mar 28-Apr 3, 2005

Chapman College's Leatherby Libraries and Oliphant Music Hall are the newest Southern California landmarks in an impressive portfolio of major facilities built by generalcontractor Matt Construction of Santa Fe Springs. These two new academic buildings represent major achievements for both Matt Construction and Chapman in the two organizations' commitment to excellence.

The Leatherby Libraries

Chapman University challenged Matt Construction with the building upgrade of the campus' original 32,000-square-foot library facility to create a structure that would meet the needs of the school's growing student and faculty population. The end result, the $25 million, 144-square-foot Leatherby Libraries facility, houses six separate libraries (Arts and Letters, Science and Technology, Business and Economics, Music, Education, and Film and Television), as well as a cyber café. Each component has unique architectural distinctions, designed by AC Martin Partners of Los Angeles, and encompasses four stories above grade and one story below. An inviting exterior brick façade with limestone banding, limestone plaster entries and aluminum windows and panels combine to complete this striking new addition to the Chapman University campus.

Oliphant Music Hall

The $8.5 million, 24,000-square-foot Oliphant Music Hall, another Matt Construction-built facility on the Chapman campus, features a 60-seat lecture hall, rehearsal facilities, sound isolated classrooms and practice rooms on three stories above grade and one below. The new music hall connects on two levels to the existing Bertea Hall, providing ease of access for both students and faculty. The exterior of the Oliphant Music Hall is brick with limestone plaster entries and aluminum windows and panels, serving as a architectural complement to the nearby Leatherby Libraries.

Meeting unique challenges

As general contractor for the new Chapman facilities, Matt met a number of challenges, primarily with site logistics and scheduling, according to Matt project manager Dan Stafford who headed the project.

"With construction on the two new buildings taking place at the center of bustling campus, our team needed to be extremely diligent in creating safe access around the site for students, faculty and staff both day and night," said Dan. "Building multiple projects simultaneously within an existing campus in full operation is a challenging task but even with the limited access and adaptations for the activity level, we were able to achieve the goals of the University."

Scheduling proved to be another area that needed special attention, resulting in an accelerated construction timetable for the libraries, which were completed in an expedited 15 months, and the music hall, which reached completion in a 12 month time period, according to Dan.

"We were able to address the challenges inherent in a project such as this through close coordination with the University and the project architect, AC Martin Partners of Los Angeles, as well as our other major team members, Abacus Project Management," Dan added.

Matt Construction's experience in the Orange County and Los Angeles marketplace, as well as its strong project leadership and technological savvy, allows the firm to offer a variety of solutions to challenging construction and pre-construction roadblocks, while meeting or exceeding the clients' expectations.

Current projects showcase excellence

In addition to the new facilities at Chapman University, current projects such as the Colburn School of Performing Arts expansion, the new California Endowment headquarters building and the University of Southern California seeley Mudd Hall of Philosophy seismic upgrade, all in Los Angeles, as well as the new Nixon Library White House East Room in Orange County, showcase Mart's construction expertise and excellence.

Matt Construction continues to play a major role in the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles with the construction of a new headquarters for The California Endowment, a private, nonprofit, statewide health foundation. The $62-million, 118,000-square-foot facility includes a new four-story office building, a one-story conference center, a large multipurpose room, several smaller meeting rooms, a board of directors' room, training space, classrooms, and a single level of below grade parking. When completed, The California Endowment Headquarters will represent Mart's most recent project in downtown Los Angeles, joining the recently completed Walt Disney Concert Hall, another Matt project.

Also located in downtown Los Angeles, Matt is at work on construction of a $120.7 million, 13-story addition to the Colburn School of Performing Arts. The new edifice will expand the school's current facilities on Grand Avenue by 300,000 square feet and will feature a terra cotta and a distinctive aluminum glass curtainwall façade. Plans call for seven stories of student housing, a 200-seat performance lab, a 4,000-square-foot rehearsal hall, a library and classrooms on the building's lower floors.