AltaSea

AltaSea will be a net-positive innovation campus where future generations will be inspired by the ocean to pursue a balanced, sustainable relationship between civilization and nature.

Located at City Dock #1, AltaSea is envisioned as a place that fully immerses people in the urban marine environment, and where elements of the buildings, landscape, and public space become powerful teaching tools. The marine innovation campus will rejuvenate a historically significant part of the Port of Los Angeles and serve as a future example of sustainability. Featuring a mix of new and renovated buildings linked by public spaces, AltaSea will transform the area into a center for institutional research, public education, and private industry, and attract businesses, researchers, and visitors alike.

Working closely with the client, Gensler is providing programmatic clarity, overall design vision, and strategy for the phased components of the campus master plan, which spans across 35 acres. A new building at Berth 56 will serve as a Visitor Center and gateway to the campus, housing education and exhibition programming to inspire students to explore the sciences of the ocean. When moving through the Visitor’s Center, one experiences both the architecture and the water in various choreographed moments. Atop the building, the Energy Harvesting Tower offers unparalleled views of the entire port and provides the opportunity to learn about the energy generation of the campus.

The design team also worked with the Port of LA and various historic consultants to ensure the existing buildings and site components are well-preserved and carefully incorporated. The adaptive reuse of the historical Warehouse 57 will create a state-of-the-art Research Center for the oceanographic and marine biology programs of Southern California’s marine institutions. Phase 1 of the project also includes transforming a series of century-old warehouses, Berths 58-60, into a new Business Hub. This part of the campus will act as an incubator, nurturing new and existing marine-based business, scientific breakthroughs, and emerging technologies to create ocean-related products, services, and local job opportunities, while providing unique access to the water, the Port, and the ocean’s resources.