Until 1950, films were produced using nitrate cellulose film stock, a chemically unstable and highly flammable material that inevitably deteriorates and turns to dust. UCLA has a large archive and in order to preserve these films and others from libraries in the area, they saw the need to build a special vault for these works.

The vault is built into the Santa Clarita hills to help regulate temperature and add additional safety measures for the preservation of these unstable films.

With the difficult terrain, deep excavations, remote site and flammable material storage requirements, the project had unique issues Pan-Pacific worked around (including ancient oaks and rattlesnakes…)

Our experience in many varied site situations helped us excel on this project.