UCLA Health hospitals have a well-earned reputation for excellent care and advanced research, ranking #1 in the state of California, and #3 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in 2021. Under the UCLA Health umbrella, the Doheny Eye Institute (established in 1947) is an internationally recognized, top-ranking nonprofit research and clinical care institute, dedicated to the conservation, improvement, and restoration of human eyesight.
In 2017, the Institute purchased a 40-year-old office building on a seven-acre site in Pasadena, and subsequently hired SWA Architects to design the renovation of this building for their new headquarters.
Acentech’s team provided baseline vibration measurements of the building structure and site background noise measurements, as well as sound isolation, room acoustics, and MEP noise/vibration mitigation for the entire project. A special focus was provided for sensitive lab areas and the conference center.
The Institute’s vision—to bring together doctors, researchers, and staff under one roof—was finally realized in January 2022, when the new headquarters opened. The facility is LEED-designed and features an array of solar panels that power the building and provide shade for parked vehicles. The new labs promote accelerated research in important areas, including artificial intelligence, regenerative medicine, gene-base therapies, and imaging diagnostics. And the new, state-of-the-art conference center supports conferences, symposia, lectures, and remote (virtual) collaborations with specialists from around the globe.
