Balfour Beatty

Client:

HOLA (Heart of LA)

Scope Of Work

Balfour Beatty delivered the new, state-of-the-art, Heart of LA (HOLA) Performing Arts Building and recreation center designed by Berliner Architects and located within Lafayette Park in downtown LA.  HOLA is a non-profit organization that provides underserved youth with an equal chance to succeed through free programs in academics, arts, wellness programs, and athletics in a nurturing environment.  Their success is founded on safe environments, nurtured by a no-wrong-door approach, amplified by world-renowned partners, and perpetuated by students who become productive, caring, and responsible citizens.  HOLA currently serves more than 2,400 children and families and with more than 300 families still on HOLA’s waitlists quarterly, the new building allows HOLA to expand their capacity to serve the community by 74%. 

Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) sought to create an environment for the underserved school children that live in the Ramparts, Westlake and Pico Union neighborhoods, which are overrun by poverty, crime and a feeling of hopelessness. These children have always had second best facilities and this endeavor to build a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Building allowed the children to not only have a fresh environment but the most innovative sustainable facilities around. The organization gives some of our city's most vulnerable youth a chance to succeed in life – through its programming, the youth (and their parents) are exposed to a wide array of experts including artists, executives, chefs, athletes, engineers and counselors who truly commit themselves to instruction and guidance of the highest quality.

The three-story 32,000 square foot facility consists of 50 modular units built from single-use shipping containers and converted to custom-designed activity rooms, community rooms, music rooms and creative lab spaces. Each space features full LED lighting, ductless HVAC systems and floor-to-ceiling windows. The new HOLA Facility also houses the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA) with a new ensemble room opening up to the park for public performances.