OLBN was commissioned by Chef Richard Sandoval as the architect of record, bid assistance and construction oversight of his flagship DC restaurant, Toro Toro. This 12,500sf, two level restaurant/night club involved the complete renovation of an existing private club, including all MEP systems, to increase the proposed occupancy by a factor of five times.
The original design for the space was performed by an international interior designer to emulate the design intent of the original Toro Toro in Dubai, UAE. When the preliminary construction bids came in on average twice the original project budget, OLBN was tasked with value engineering the project during the construction document/construction administration phases to reduce costs. OLBN assisted the client with negotiating the original bids, selecting a contractor and executing a contract which would enable a fast track construction to proceed while value engineering the original design.
OLBN’s team quickly produced demolition documents for the project, which would enable the construction to proceed while value engineering was completed. Value engineering items were identified with the contractor, and an overall budget for the project, reflecting savings on value engineered items was maintained. As elements were agreed upon between the contractor and client, OLBN revised the documents to reflect the changes made. Once significant progress was made by the team on reducing the budget, interim construction documents were produced for the purposes of obtaining the building owner’s approval and obtaining a permit for the installation work. Throughout construction, OLBN functioned as both the architect/engineer of record, and the owners representative, to deliver a restaurant which adhered to the original design intent, at a significantly reduced cost.
