Thank you, The Architect’s Newspaper, for featuring LEVER’s design for the Universal Studios Campus Project. The expansion introduces two new buildings, The Commons and One Universal, designed to modernize Universal Studios' corporate campus while improving walkability and landscaping.

The Commons is a circular employee amenity space inspired by early moving picture technology, specifically the zoetrope. The façade features a lenticular shade screen composed of vertically oriented aluminum tubes, creating an illusion of movement through shifting light and shadow. The building includes a food hall on the first floor, theaters and screening rooms on the second, and a rooftop event space.

One Universal is an 11-story office building that integrates into the hillside, navigating a 90-foot grade change. It consists of two offset glass volumes and conceals a 1,200-car garage within the terrain. The western elevations incorporate horizontally oriented blinds for shading, and the structure was built using low-carbon concrete.

LEVER collaborated with Field Operations to introduce a green lawn separating the new additions, providing space for recreation and leisure. Additional landscape interventions improve pedestrian connections along Gregory Peck Drive, a former thoroughfare transformed with trees and landscaping. These elements enhance the cohesion of Universal City while supporting the evolution of the studio’s corporate facilities.