South Coast Repertory Theater, Costa Mesa, California |
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South Coast Repertory Theater is located in the heart of the South Coast Plaza Town Center development area, a seminal project site for Peter Walker and Partners. Culminating work from over 3 decades, it includes Pete's early SWA project for the 'Town Center Park', a naturalistic park in the midst of a suburban business park and the well-published double stainless steel ring fountain and plaza of 'Plaza Tower' with architect Cesar Pelli. To the north, a sloping square patterned parterre with a concentric ring entry plaza combines the 'Orange County Performing Arts Center' with 'Center Tower'. In the 2000s, a new entry plaza and landscape was created for the 'Park Tower' building and the expanded 'South Coast Repertory Theater' and subsequently the new 'Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall' also with Cesar Pelli.
For my first project at PWP, I worked on the early design development drawings to the construction documentation. While the design was clean, minimal and integrated with the architecture, the detail design was thoughtful and complicated while building on top of an existing massive stormwater box culvert. In 2014, I finally had a chance to visit the site and happy to find many of the features are still in place. The colour concrete plaza held up while the Crapemyrtles created the perfect lite shade over the entry plaza. Also, while unrelated to Pete's work, located nearby to the south is Isamu Noguchi's famous 'California Scenario'. Owner: South Coast Repertory Architect(s): Cesar Pelli Year: 2000 Role: Landscape Designer while at Peter Walker and Partners External Link(s): South Coast Plaza Town Center - PWP Landscape Architecture South Repertory Theater Expansion and Renovation - Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects South Coast Repertory Project Location |