Challenge

Opened more than a century ago, The Ebell of Los Angeles and the accompanying Wilshire Ebell Theater participates in and encourages the educational, cultural and social growth of the Los Angeles, California community working with a wide range of artists and promoters from around the world to bring performing arts to the diverse population of the city. The complex has been owned and operated since 1927 by the Ebell of Los Angeles women’s club and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, solidifying its status as an iconic structure.

With a variety of spaces within the structure, The Ebell of Los Angeles houses a performing arts theater, office spaces for staff and smaller rooms for special events. Since its opening, the Ebell Theatre has hosted musical performances and lectures by world leaders and top artists, including the likes of Judy Garland, Igor Stravinsky, Stevie Wonder, Michelle Obama and more. This building not only holds a special place in the hearts of Los Angelinos, but all theater-goers who appreciate a touch of grand, iconic performance centers.

Criteria

The facility management team required a versatile system that would both respect The Ebell of Los Angeles’ recognized status on the National Register of Historic Places and meet the theater’s needs to cool, heat and dehumidify the front and back stage areas. Additionally, the system needed to provide air conditioning for the building’s event hosting spaces, which the old system did not provide for beyond the theater.

Solution

After carefully evaluating the criteria, the building’s General Manager and Chief Operating Officer Philip Miller, in conjunction with mechanical engineering firm Athena Engineering, designed an efficient and seamless solution that would allow for occupant comfort in the theater and event spaces. The property had a variety of air conditioning needs. For example, the theater can house large crowds for a performance one day, then may see days without any events. The various loads on a nightly basis, the amount of moisture and body heat had to be taken into consideration. DMG Corporation, the project’s HVAC Equipment Solution team, reviewed the requirements and recommended LG AHU Conversion Kits paired with Multi V™ 5 Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) condensing units.

LG’s industry-leading VRF technology was selected because it excels at sensible cooling and the modularity of the design enables the overall system to properly condition the varied spaces throughout the theater and event spaces despite the heating and cooling load changes caused by shifting occupancy. Due to the unique aspects and structure of the building, Athena Engineering designed a custom-built system that replaced the old chiller structure with LG condensing units, which were easily installed on the exterior of the theater.

The new units feed into LG AHU Conversion Kits that are housed in the theater’s basement. The AHU Conversion Kits, consisting of EEV kits and Communication kits, were then able to communicate with coils stacked within the new custom AHUs to drive the temperatures of the coils lower to effectively dehumidify and condition the air to increase comfort exponentially. Additionally, LG MultiSITE™ Communications Manager was installed to allow the LG systems to communicate with third-party controls for seamless system management. For nearly the same cost as a traditional system, with greater savings and overall efficiency over its lifespan, The Ebell of Los Angeles now has a highly reliable, energy efficient HVAC solution that delivers comfort and convenience for its occupants.