...and then there were seven: Abalos & Herreros | Miralles/Tagliabue | Richard Haag and Associates | Hargreaves Associate | Olin Partnership | Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey | Ken Smith with Ten-Arquitectos, Mary Miss Studio, and Mia Lehrer. | prev | see inside for details
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Design jury chooses Great Park finalists
Seven firms chosen to develop plans for the former El Toro Marine base.
By JEFF ROWE
The Orange Count Register
IRVINE — A jury of architects chose seven design firms to create concept drawings for the Great Park.
The seven will be offered $50,000 each now to create a design for the Great Park, the mix of wilderness areas, athletic fields, farms, museums, schools, shops, businesses, houses and a cemetery.
The finalists are:
• Abalos & Herroros [sic] of Madrid, Spain
• Miralles/Tagliabue of Barcelona, Spain
• Richard Haag and Associates of Seattle, Wash.
• Hargreaves Associate of San Francisco
• Olin Partnership of Philadelphia, Pa.
• Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey of Mill Valley
• Ken Smith, Landscape Architect of New York in partnership with Ten-Arquitectos of Mexico City, Mary Miss Studio of New York and Mia Lehrer and Associates of Los Angeles.
The jury of six architects met all day Friday and released their findings this afternoon. The original plan called for six finalists but the jury found a clear demarcation between the seven and the rest of the 24 firms which applied.
The Great Park board is expected to approve the selection of the seven at its next regular meeting on June 23.
The seven then will have until sometime in September to complete their plans; a second jury then will evaluate the seven and a winner is expected to be chosen by October.
9 Comments
This whole competition still smells to me like one of the worst cases of NIMBYism ever.
How so?
I think the idea of turning it into a regional commercial airport perhaps merited more exploration. That was dismissed and swept under the rug pretty quickly. People want to live in Orange County but use LA County's services. The thousands of daily trips to LAX from OC not only represent a cost in fuel and road maintenance, it also means emergency services and traffic management. OC residents cite noise and pollution when opposing the EL Toro airport, but this means in some measure that communities near LAX will have to put up with increased demand. Obviously it's a complex issue and who can say 'no' to wilderness?
Hmmm. But does John Wayne not serve the demands of another airport? Or, is the ultimate point about the necessity of expanding LAX?
"Numerous studies over the past approximately 30 years have addressed the inadequacy of John Wayne Airport [JWA] to handle the long term commercial aviation needs of Orange County. In most of these studies MCAS El Toro was identified as a potential civilian airport facility." more info...
I'm no expert on the matter but I think this is a really interesting site...truly exemplary of the situation with a lot of base closures...and I'm not sure it has been programed in a creative way. Except for Abalos & Herreros, it looks to me like the firms will take the status quo and run with it. Hargreaves for example is a master at pomo landscapes...like Crissy Field (similar issues) in SF.
The ironic thing is, my wife works at an equestrian facility on the north end of the land, and now that the "Great Park" property has been purchased by Lennar, the public equestrian facility (with 250 horses) is being evicted.
Of course I did vote for the airport back when it was on the ballot, which probably would have had the same result...
Just a note, though, to any of the powers that be or designers who might be reading this, consider including a replacement equestrian center in your program for the great park. Orange County has an equestrian history, and it would be disappointing to see it squeezed out by a... park? Golf courses and sports fields are great, but they aren't the only types of recreation going on here.
still say that (after having lived in OC for a short stint....it doesnt surprise me what Javier is elluding to. Mind you those people (in OC) most of them - not all (and yes I am making a generalization, but c'mon) are so uptight and pretentious and continue with their mocking of LA as this gangland style, ultra urban decaying zone of southern california, of which they want no part of....yet as Javier points out, they dare not think of expanding (if it were possible) John Wayne Airport, or possibly creating the use of some space allocated for an airport, of which MCAS would be perfect.
I just say beyond the NIMBYisms there is this notion that if we can avoid the clutter that LA already has, why not let them deal with it and keep our OC nice and clean. That's most of O.C's residents, not my feelings! (side note, that's why I moved back up to LA, can't stand the OC)
squirrelly...out!
That's TOO MUCH of a generalization. There was and IS a section of OC-ers that wouldn't mind seeing John Wayne expanded, especially if it means turning the El Toro marine base into a nature preserve and park. The fight wasn't between LA and OC, but between Coastal OC and inland OC.
In this case, the so called "NIMBYS" are right.( I just love how this pejorative is used so generously). OC has John Wayne and the LA region already has 5, yeah that right, FIVE commercial airports that is more than any major city in the world.
That's absolutely ridiculous than anyone would say that Socal needs one more that would be bigger than LAX. Yeah. I bet Angelenos think Socal is freeway deficient as well!
Here's a thought: come up with a plan to utilize all 5 airports rather than adding another sprawl-inducing airport in an already public space deficient southern California.
Thanks Savvy. Great points with factual findings.
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