The VUE is a 318-unit 16-story Residential Tower located in San Pedro, California. The tower’s unique Z-shaped floor plan offers an unparalleled view of the waterfront, Catalina Island and the Palos Verdes peninsula. With floor-to-ceiling glass and a balcony, part of every residence, VUE was designed to bring the outside, inside.
From the start of the project Saiful Bouquet worked closely with the architect and the developer to balance the desire to maintain the unparalleled views and floor-to-ceiling glass with the need for developing an economical design. This was further complicated by the unique shape of the tower and by the fact that the site was within 1 km of the active Palos Verdes fault which required the tower to be designed to much higher seismic forces as compared to buildings in other parts of the Los Angeles Basin. SB met this challenge very effectively by developing a structural system that consisted of 7-1/2 inch P/T slabs, mat foundations and concrete shear walls strategically located around the building core and at the demising walls of the units. The perimeter of the building was kept wall free allowing the tenants to have the unparalleled view. The structural design made conscious effort to keep the building formwork as simple as possible to minimize the concrete cost.
