Beautiful.Dreamworks

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DreamWorks Animation Studio

Glendale

The DreamWorks facility, an $85 million campus that opened in 1998, resembles an Italian villa dropped in the middle of a light industrial zone near the intersection of the Ventura and Golden State freeways.

It’s a little bit of la dolce vita in Glendale.

The 320,000-square-foot complex consists of five low-rise buildings that are connected by covered arcades. There is a central fountain, pond and campanile tower alongside outdoor tables. A manmade stream meanders through the property, shaded in part by olive and oak trees.

Santa Monica architect Steven Ehrlich took the 12-acre property, which was once a storage yard for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and a helicopter landing field for area police departments, and turned it into one of the area’s best examples of non-traditional office space.

“Jeffrey Katzenberg set out the design visions and the operations visions,” said David Mannix, head of the studio’s operations and facilities. “We wanted a creative environment that creative people would respond to.”

Mannix said the studio offers color-corrected lighting throughout the facility so that the work of animators looks consistent at all times.

Angela Moreno, the senior project manager with the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, said it has become a model development for other corporations that are interested in moving to the area. “The Mediterranean style is quite innovative,” Moreno said. “It’s a quality design and they did set a precedent at a high level.”

Ann Donah

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