HGA has completed a reported $22 million renovation of the lobby and outdoor plaza at 525 University Avenue in Palo Alto, California. The work updates a 1966, 15-floor, 194,000-square-foot office building while retaining the defining elements of its Brutalist architecture. The project refreshed a 4,700-square-foot lobby and a 45,000-square-foot plaza, replacing a dark, inward-facing arrival experience with clearer connections to University Avenue and a more usable outdoor setting.
The account below follows the June 25, 2025 report by Building Design + Construction, which attributes the project figures and design details to the project team. Those figures are reported values, not independently verified measurements; the article does not provide post-project energy, water, wind, occupancy or satisfaction data.
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Project at a glance
| Item | Reported detail |
|---|---|
| Location | 525 University Avenue, Palo Alto, California |
| Building | 1966 office building, originally designed by California architect Tallie Maule |
| Architectural description | Brutalist |
| Size | 15 floors and 194,000 square feet of office space |
| Reported project cost | $22 million |
| Lobby work area | 4,700 square feet |
| Plaza work area | 45,000 square feet |
| Completion report | June 25, 2025, in Building Design + Construction |
Building Design + Construction reported each figure above. The publication did not present an independent cost audit or a new survey of the building’s dimensions.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteThe project owner is CM Capital. HGA served as design architect and architect of record. The article identifies SWA as landscape architect, McLarney Construction as general contractor, ACCO Engineered Systems for mechanical and plumbing engineering, GT Jordan Electric for electrical engineering and MAR Structural Design for structural engineering.
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The publication’s project report is available at Building Design + Construction.
Why the renovation required a careful balance
525 University Avenue presented two related but different problems. Inside, the ground-floor arrival had to feel more open and legible without erasing the character of a building designed in the 1960s. Outside, a large plaza had reportedly become unattractive to tenants because of wind exposure. HGA therefore had to improve transparency and comfort while keeping the architectural language associated with Maule’s original design.
That balance is visible in the materials and interventions. The renovation reveals concrete and uses travertine and redwood rather than covering the building with a completely new decorative palette. At the same time, clearer glazing, a new street entrance, shade structures and new circulation make the property easier to approach and use. HGA principal and practice group leader Rob Zirkle described the effort as navigating a complex approval process to honor Maule’s Brutalist style while evolving the space toward CM Capital’s goal of a more inviting and transparent environment. His statement, quoted in the 2025 trade-publication report, describes the team’s approach; it is not a measurement of performance.
Lobby: exposing structure and opening the building to University Avenue
A new public-facing entrance
The lobby now has a new entrance on University Avenue. The move gives the building a clearer relationship with the street instead of making visitors search for an arrival point behind a darker ground-floor frontage. The report says the new glass brings in more natural light and improves street appeal. Those are the stated effects of the design, not results supported by daylight readings or a post-occupancy survey.
Removing barriers at the ground floor
HGA removed ground-floor office suites and dark window film as part of the renovation. Taking out those suites frees the perimeter for a more direct lobby experience, while removing the film lets people see farther into the building from the sidewalk. Clear, energy-efficient glass replaces the obscured glazing. “Energy-efficient” is the description given in the project account; the article does not identify a glazing manufacturer, U-value, solar-heat-gain coefficient or modeled energy reduction.
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Making the Brutalist structure visible
The finished lobby leaves the concrete waffle slab exposed. A waffle slab’s repeated coffers are a structural pattern as well as a ceiling texture, so exposing it emphasizes the building’s original construction rather than disguising it with a flat suspended ceiling. Travertine is used around the core, adding a lighter stone surface at the central circulation zone while leaving the concrete legible.
Redwood, reception and a living wall
Locally sourced redwood appears at the reception desk and on the elevator-lobby ceiling. The warm wood introduces a tactile counterpoint to concrete and stone without turning the lobby into a generic hospitality interior. Behind reception, a living green wall creates the strongest planted element in the indoor arrival sequence. The article identifies the redwood as locally sourced but does not state a forest-certification standard, quantity, maintenance regime or plant-survival rate for the green wall.
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Plaza: designing for wind, shade and movement
Wind-tunnel modeling before the pergolas
The plaza’s reported wind exposure had discouraged tenants from using it. Rather than placing shade structures by appearance alone, HGA used wind-tunnel modeling to develop two pergolas. Their intended functions are coupled: slow and redirect airflow while providing shade. Modeling informed the form and placement, but the published account does not include post-construction wind speeds, comfort thresholds, seasonal measurements or a before-and-after occupancy count. It is therefore accurate to describe the pergolas as a modeled response and design intent, not as a proven performance result.
More places to sit and gather
The redesign adds amphitheater seating. That creates stepped places for informal meetings, waiting or events and gives the broad plaza more varied edges than a single open plane. The report does not specify seat capacity, event programming or whether the amphitheater is intended for a particular tenant group.
Connecting the upper and lower plazas
An accessible route now connects the upper and lower plaza areas. This is a circulation improvement, not merely a visual one: visitors can move between levels without being confined to a separate or indirect path. The article does not publish slope, width, handrail or paving details, so those should not be inferred from the description.
Enclosing the garage stairwell
A glass enclosure was added over the garage stairwell. The enclosure makes the stair volume more visible and protects it from the open plaza environment while preserving transparency. The report does not state whether the enclosure changes ventilation, fire ratings, lighting performance or the stair’s operational schedule.
Replacing brick with scored concrete
The former brick paving was replaced with scored concrete. Scoring divides the surface into a deliberate grid and can establish a stronger visual order across a large plaza. In this project, the change also aligns the paving with the exposed-concrete vocabulary used inside. No installation thickness, reinforcing design, drainage calculation or life-cycle comparison between the old brick and new concrete is provided.
Environmental features and their limits
The plaza includes high-SRI pavers, drought-tolerant native planting and metered irrigation intended to support possible future graywater use. A high solar reflectance index generally means a surface reflects more solar energy and can reduce heat absorption compared with a darker surface, but the article does not quantify surface temperatures or a heat-island reduction. Native, drought-tolerant planting indicates a lower-water landscape strategy suited to the region; no annual irrigation volume or plant list is published.
The irrigation meters are described as preparing for future graywater use. That wording matters: the report does not say graywater is currently connected, treated or being used at 525 University Avenue. Nor does it provide a water budget, reuse percentage or commissioning date. These are installed or planned design provisions, not documented operating outcomes.
What the project decisions reveal
Historic character
Exposed waffle-slab concrete, travertine and a restrained material palette keep the original Brutalist identity visible. The work does not attempt to reproduce every 1960s detail; instead, it removes later barriers and adds contemporary elements that sit alongside the structure.
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Transparency and street presence
The University Avenue entrance, removal of dark film and use of clear glass address the building’s public face. The stated goal is a more welcoming and transparent arrival, with daylight and views helping connect the lobby to the sidewalk.
Outdoor comfort
The two pergolas address the plaza’s specific reported weakness—wind exposure—while also supplying shade. Using wind-tunnel modeling before finalizing the structures shows that comfort was treated as a site and airflow problem rather than solved only through furniture or planting.
Access and circulation
The accessible connection between upper and lower plazas and the glass-covered garage stairwell make movement through the site easier to understand. The published description supports that design intent, but it does not provide an accessibility inspection or certification record.
Resource-conscious site design
Reflective paving, regional drought-tolerant planting and metered irrigation form a coordinated environmental strategy. They should be read as project features, not as evidence of a quantified certification level or measured utility savings.
Project team and responsibilities
| Role | Firm identified in the project report |
|---|---|
| Owner | CM Capital |
| Design architect and architect of record | HGA |
| Landscape architect | SWA |
| General contractor | McLarney Construction |
| Mechanical and plumbing engineering | ACCO Engineered Systems |
| Electrical engineering | GT Jordan Electric |
| Structural engineering | MAR Structural Design |
The team list identifies contractual and design roles reported by the publication. It does not, by itself, establish which firm designed each individual detail or how responsibilities were divided during construction.
What is—and is not—established about the completed work
The reported project establishes a clear scope: a $22 million transformation of the lobby and plaza at a named Palo Alto office building, with specific material, circulation, landscape and wind-response interventions. It also establishes the building’s 1966 date, Brutalist description, original architect, floor count and reported areas.
It does not establish measured post-renovation results. There are no published figures for energy use, water consumption, indoor daylight, plaza wind speed, surface temperature, tenant attendance or occupant satisfaction. The article also does not independently verify the reported cost, document approvals, or provide a post-occupancy evaluation. Those limits are important when interpreting phrases such as “more inviting,” “improves street appeal” or “intended for future graywater use.”
Why 525 University Avenue matters as a renovation example
The project demonstrates a renovation pattern relevant to older commercial buildings: preserve recognizable structural character, remove changes that make the ground floor opaque, and solve outdoor comfort problems with analysis before construction. At 525 University Avenue, the approach is specific rather than generic. Concrete is exposed instead of hidden, but the lobby gains clear energy-efficient glazing and a new street entrance. The plaza keeps its large civic-like footprint, but pergolas, amphitheater seating and an accessible route give it more practical uses.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →For owners and design teams studying the work, the useful lesson is the alignment between problem and intervention. A dark lobby receives transparent glazing and a new entry; a windy plaza receives wind-tunnel-informed shade structures; a level-changing site receives an accessible connection; and a water-conscious landscape receives metered irrigation that could accommodate a later graywater system. The available account supports those relationships, while leaving operational performance for future documentation.
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