DPR Finishes Headquarters for Pixar

When the scope of the Pixar Animation Studios job doubled, scoring the project a number 11 spot on California Construction Link’s top projects for 2000 but also creating an ever-moving completion date to accommodate the additional work, DPR never flinched.T Most construction companies would have shied away from commitment when asked to hit a moving target, but DPR said simply, “No problem.” It then drew upon its decade-old tradition of making decisions necessary for the success of customers’ projects and applied its unique strengths—teamwork that meets the ever-changing needs of customers, keeping promises, and whenever possible saving the customer money—to the many Pixar-initiated revisions on the company’s much-heralded 210,000-sq.-ft. blockbuster headquarters and studios building.

“The job was designed as we went. We didn’t know what material was going to be used until we started each aspect of the project, but by working closely with our team and the owner, we were able to provide exactly what Pixar wanted,” said DPR Superintendent Ralph Eslick. Despite the fact that each piece, down to the German-made handles on the doors, was subject to change, DPR finished the last agreed-upon changes in time for the animation company to move into the nerve center of its 16-acre Emeryville, Calif. campus on Nov. 17, a date DPR and Pixar had arranged in late June.

DPR’s work for the “Toy Story” and “A Bug’s Life” creator continued beyond the company’s move-in date. DPR is currently adding an entrance canopy, an outdoor lap pool and an additional render farm (an area where a final image, which can take from one to 20 hours of computation time to draw, is rendered and transferred to film, video or CD-ROM). To alleviate the stress of the long hard hours and taxing work required of those in the animation industry, DPR had earlier constructed an indoor gym, basketball court, soccer field and jogging path for Pixar employees.

The two-story steel-frame building, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson of Pittsburgh, Penn. and built on the site of an old cannery, has the look and feel of warehouses of the 1920s and ‘30s. Its design and construction draw on techniques and materials reminiscent of those yesteryears featuring an open ceiling with exposed structural steel that has been bolted rather than welded, fully exposed mechanical and electrical systems, Italian marble counter tops, German hardware, Italian theater seats and exterior bricks custom-manufactured in an old-style “beehive” kiln and in colors used in that earlier era. All 423,000 bricks and pavers were expertly hand laid by E&S Masonry.

The specificity of detail required by the customer brought forth a spirited team effort. Weekly team meetings with the owner and architect provided up-to-date information on project details, documented the team’s observations and set quality standards through the use of mock-ups and samples. Subsequently, a recommendation to use an alternative wood type resulted in a $700,000 savings for Pixar.

The project’s base isolation system adds an extra layer of quality to the building’s uniqueness. This brick structure’s seismic system, unlike many, was designed by structural engineer Rutherford & Chekene to resist earthquake stresses—it will move on rubber bearings 30 inches in any direction without crumbling. Other state-of-the-art features, those that use intricate video, data and power systems, include a photo science darkroom, production areas for regular as well as animated films, and render farms. The facility also contains offices, a 150-seat theater, two 50-seat screening rooms, and a sound control room and booth where Billy Crystal and John Goodman will add “frights and delights” to Disney/Pixar’s upcoming animated comedy-adventure, “Monsters, Inc.”