May 5, 2022
A vacant, underused lot in Koreatown is getting some much-needed development thanks to the design-driven team at Bittoni Architects.
Located in Los Angeles, Bittoni Architects specializes in multifamily and mixed-use developments as well as single-family residential. New hospitality projects are also on the boards at Bittoni, namely a wellness center and a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Newshire Project
The firm’s most recent project began construction after a short pandemic mandated delay slowed things down. Named “Newshire” the project broke ground in October 2021. Sited at the southeast corner of James M. Wood Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue, the eight-story building consists of 56 residential units above subterranean parking.
The downtown area of Los Angeles known as Koreatown has become attractive to developers given its status as one of the more affordable areas to live. Increased development spells a huge jump in density, complicating the logistics of building there. Bittoni Architects met that challenge during the design phase with Archicad.
Firm principal Mark Bittoni says, “From a design standpoint – the challenge is working under tight constraints. Archicad empowers us to draw and coordinate well, with the ability to factor in the super important space. Our drawings are very well thought out in terms of the space planning aspect.”
Winning more projects with Archicad
Skilled Archicad use at Bittoni Architects is well-demonstrated. It serves the team well when clients and developers are impressed upon seeing renderings and VR designs made with supportive Archicad technology. Bittoni goes so far as to credit Archicad with the initial reason the firm was awarded the Newshire project.
“The developer came into our office to discuss some concerns, given our company size compared to the other firms bidding for the project. While visiting, we showed them another project fully executed in VR using Twinmotion. This preview led to demonstrating the technology behind it all. I believe doing that was one of the reasons why we were awarded the project, to begin with. We were punching above our weight.”
Following that boxing metaphor, it could be argued that Bittoni finished in fifteen rounds with a KO taking the project from a usability standpoint, all the way through construction documents.
We showed them another project fully executed in VR using Twinmotion. This preview led to demonstrating the technology behind it all. I believe doing that was one of the reasons why we were awarded the project … We were punching above our weight.
Firm principal, Mark Bittoni
Keep in mind that while Bittoni was creating the presentation, renderings, and VR experience – they were also working on other elements that would serve the model and project later. It’s crucial for teams of any size to be efficient and harness the ability to work on larger projects.
“We can leverage initial design, early concepts, space efficiency studies, all in Archicad. That’s our secret sauce, using one software to execute so many different things. At any given time, we would have 35 different projects in progress. We’re a robust team of nine architects, 13 total staff – together we manage it all and present amazing work.”
Feasability and Profitability with Archicad
Archicad helped Bittoni’s team to produce feasibility studies for Newshire by pulling data from a website provided by a third-party client program. Time spent inputting basic parameters of the site and developing a massing model of the unit as an aggregate quickly pays off; it’s a process that happens often as developers acquire property. Carrying out in this way, properly compels the developer to seek the help of an architect to figure out if the proposed building “pencils out”.
“We take the code information, put that in drawing format, as that happens, we are immediately building the three-dimensional version of the zoning envelope. Calculating setback, overall heights, parking layout and the unit out is all tied together. Archicad quickly gets us to the massing volume of the building itself.”
Archicad quickly gets us to the massing volume of the building itself.
Firm principal, Mark Bittoni
About Bittoni Architects
Bittoni Architects is an architecture and interior design firm specializing housing – from individual homes through to large multi-unit urban buildings.
For more information visit bittoniarchitects.com