2024-11-23T07:44:35-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150296687/mvrdv-and-ibi-group-among-designers-to-turn-former-marine-corps-base-into-an-expansive-cultural-hub-in-southern-california Josh Niland 2022-01-28T15:33:00-05:00 >2024-10-25T04:07:38-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/06/065053ae1ffd76667f3d919014a80719.jpeg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>A diverse consortium of architects has been announced for a massive new development called Cultural Terrace on the site of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Irvine, California led by <a href="https://archinect.com/firms/cover/150059062/ibi-group" target="_blank">IBI Group</a> and <a href="https://archinect.com/firms/cover/327/mvrdv" target="_blank">MVRDV</a>.</p> <p>The firms will be joined by landscape architects <a href="https://archinect.com/agencyartifact" target="_blank">Agency Artifact</a> and the local women-run studio <a href="https://www.instagram.com/maam_made/?hl=en" target="_blank">MAAM</a>, with engineers from Buro Happold and Ryder Levett Bucknall serving in a consulting role.&nbsp;</p> <figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/3c/3cbc4ac18ff42c737d746aed228dce06.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/3c/3cbc4ac18ff42c737d746aed228dce06.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>Interior view of one of the existing military buildings. Image &copy; IBI Group.</figcaption></figure><p>The 4,682-acre base was once home to <a href="http://coph.fullerton.edu/collections/abstract%20document-El%20Toro.pdf" target="_blank">Major League Baseball great Ted Williams</a>, who was a Marine Corps aviator from 1943 until the end of the Korean War. The government deactivated El Toro in 1999, and it has since been converted into a popular TV and film location, as well as a fledgling public park, which the new development hopes to reinvigorate.<br></p> <p>Exact uses for the Cultural Terrace are still being determined, but the 110-acre parcel of the Great Park may evolve in time to play host to a museum, library and...</p>