Once upon a time, the orange was the socioeconomic driver of the City of Anaheim. The hesperidium may no longer play quite as crucial a role in the city’s economy, but its former importance has not been forgotten.
Take for example the design of the new $500 million Anaheim Performing Arts Center (APAC). SPF:architects studied the trunks, root structures, and leaves of orange trees, and even the skin of oranges, to draw inspiration for the half-billion-dollar project. The result is a complex that is organized as a grid to mirror the layout common to an orchard, with each major building adopting a circular shape deriving from an orange tree. Additionally, each of the main structures is clad in perforated copper-anodized aluminum, meant as an evocation of the skin of an orange. “We imagine that if we were to roll up the pavement of the parking lot we would find the old spirits of old citrus trees” says Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA SPF:a Design Principal, in a release.
Rendering courtesy of SPF:architects.
The 500,000-sf cultural campus is defined by three separate theaters: a 2,000-seat concert hall, a 1,700-seat opera hall, and a 600-seat black box theater. Other defining features include a museum tower with an observatory that is set on a 24-foot podium, an outdoor amphitheater, two restaurants, office space, a convention hall, and lecture rooms. Paths, paving, and open spaces emanate from key buildings in concentric circles to the peripheries of the property.
The 1,700-seat opera hall. Rendering courtesy of SPF:architects.
Landscaping will include a grand fountain, reflecting pool, and a green roof. Underground parking is also included.
Construction is expected to take two and a half to three years.
Rendering courtesy of SPF:architects.
Rendering courtesy of SPF:architects.
Rendering courtesy of SPF:architects.
Rendering courtesy of SPF:architects.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Burt Hill, HOK top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest university design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 University Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, HDR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest institutional building design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 Institutional Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
David Rockwell unveils set for upcoming Oscar show
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and 82nd Academy Awards® production designer David Rockwell unveiled the set for the upcoming Oscar show.
| Aug 11, 2010
Firehouse converted to hip hot property
Sound the alarm! A 9,000-sf former firehouse is being converted into a new multipurpose space for ZUMIX, a nonprofit music and arts organization that's partnering on the project with Landmark Structures of Woburn, Mass., and the East Boston Community Development Corporation. The $2 million renovation of the 1920s structure, known as Engine Company 40 Firehouse, includes a complete gut job to ma...
| Aug 11, 2010
Project is music to school's ears
Florida Gulf Coast University is building a $7.55 million Fine Arts Building on its campus near Ft. Myers, Fla. The 25,000-sf building—the first project in the school's plan for an entire music complex—will house the music program of the College of Arts and Sciences. The facility includes a 200-seat recital hall, rehearsal hall, music labs, studio rooms, and administration offices.
| Aug 11, 2010
Theater offers spectacular views inside and out
A 500-seat proscenium theater sits at the heart of the 35,000-sf Performing Arts Pavilion at the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts. The entertainment and cultural facility, designed by Stephen Dynia Architects, Jackson Hole, Wyo., also houses glass-walled rehearsal rooms that offer passersby views of the activity going on inside and multifunction lobby with views of Snow King Mountain.
| Aug 11, 2010
Broadway-style theater headed to Kentucky
One of Kentucky's largest performing arts venues should open in 2011—that's when construction is expected to wrap up on Eastern Kentucky University's Business & Technology Center for Performing Arts. The 93,000-sf Broadway-caliber theater will seat 2,000 audience members and have a 60×24-foot stage proscenium and a fly loft.
| Aug 11, 2010
Dallas Center for the Performing Arts opens
The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, a new multi-venue center for music, opera, theater, and dance, will open this month, completing the 25-year vision of the Dallas Arts District. Foster + Partners, Rem Koolhaas, Joshua Prince-Ramus, and Skidmore Owings & Merrill are among the architecture firms involved in the development, which includes four venues unified by a 10-acre park.
| Aug 11, 2010
Modest recession for education construction
Construction spending for education expanded modestly but steadily through March, while at the same time growth for other institutional construction had stalled earlier in 2009. Education spending is now at or near the peak for this building cycle. The value of education starts is off 9% year-to-date compared to 2008.
| Aug 11, 2010
Opening night close for Kent State performing arts center
The curtain opens on the Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center at Kent State University in early 2010, giving the New Philadelphia, Ohio, school a 1,100-seat multipurpose theater. The team of Legat & Kingscott of Columbus, Ohio, and Schorr Architects of Dublin, Ohio, designed the 50,000-sf facility with a curving metal and glass façade to create a sense of movement and activity.
