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The
Bluffs
Campus
Playa del Rey, CA
Client: Lincoln Properties
& Strategic Value Partners
The Bluffs was a creative campus in need of a unifying vision. Prior renovations left behind disjointed geometries, narrow walkways, and an ungainly concrete island bisecting the property. RELM’s central challenge was to weave together spaces for gathering and receiving into a single, cohesive identity for the site while joining two office buildings and an above-grade parking garage. RELM identified what to preserve, where to intervene, and how to prioritize the lived experience of the campus, blending new interventions with what remained. Canopy trees, hanging plants, and lush planter beds create highly social gathering spaces, while the elevation of horticulture establishes a sense of identity for The Bluffs. The result reinforces a vibrant, more dynamic circulation linking highly social gathering spaces. Now a once disjointed office complex thrives as a social, garden-oriented creative campus.
The Commons
RELM’s most significant challenge was also a rare opportunity: transforming a fire lane turnaround into a central, multivalent gathering space that preserves full emergency access. A dense canopy of olive trees screens the parking garage from view, while seamlessly linking two zones into a single hub. In smoothing the entry sequence, people now have an intimate place to land upon arrival.
Redefining the Ground Plane
What was once a single-species hedge lining a long, claustrophobic walk is now a layered, textured garden threaded with seating and moments to pause. RELM also lowered the original 42-inch elevated deck—effectively a barrier—to just 12 inches, widening the once-pinched 4-foot path into open, accessible circulation that draws pedestrians into the rhythm of the wider campus.
Extending the Lobby
Dissolving the boundary between plein air and interior, the Bluffs courtyard allows the lobby experience to begin well before the lobby door. A verdant, living threshold turns a cloistered receiving space into a web of alcoves for gathering.
