International Architectural Firms Compete to Design the Great Park

Twenty-four highly respected design firms from around the world have submitted proposals to compete for the job of Master Designer of the Orange County Great Park. The Orange County Great Park Corporation invited 38 world-class firms to submit plans for the park’s layout and opened the design competition to other qualified local and regional architectural firms.

“Leading design firms from Europe, Asia, Orange County and throughout the United States are competing to design the Orange County Great Park,’” said Larry Agran, Chair, Orange County Great Park Corporation, “The quality and creativity of these firms guarantees that the Orange County Great Park will be one of the finest parks anywhere in the world.”

Firms submitting proposals incuded Abalos & Herreros, Balmori Associates, Civitas, Colvin & Morridge, Danadjieva & Koenig, EDAW, Enric Miralles Bendetta Tagliabue, Field Operations, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Richard Haag Associates, Hargreaves Associates, Iterae Architecture, Land Studio, Landscape Architecture Planning, Ohtari Consultants, Olin Partnership, Sasaki Associates, Martha Schwartz Partners, Ken Smith, Thomas Gordon Smith, SWA, and West 8 Urban Design.

The submitted proposals will be evaluated by the six distinguished professionals who serve on the Orange County Great Park design jury panel, Chaired by Dr. Hamid Shirvani, FASLA, FRSA, AICP, Provost and Professor of Architecture at Chapman University. Dr. Shirvani and the jury panel will meet June 10 to recommend 6 semi-finalists of the twenty-four submitted proposals to the Orange County Great Park Board of Directors within the next several weeks.

Members of the jury design panel include Dr. Diane Ghirirado, Professor of Architecture at the University of Southern California, Dr. Mark Francis, FASLA, Professor of Landscape Architecture at University of California, Davis, George Bissell, FAIA, President of Bissell Architects in Newport Beach, California, Dan Heinfeld, FAIA, President of LPA Irvine, Michael Rotondi, FAIA, architect and founder of Morphoris in Los Angeles and Linda Pollak, ALA, ASLA, partner, Marpillero/Park Architects, New York.

The semi-finalists selected by the Board will be provided a stipend to develop a conceptual design plan for the Great Park. A second design jury panel will review the designs and make recommendations to the Board. In October, the Board will select a Master Designer for the Great Park. The winning designer will be commissioned to fully develop all the schematics, implementation designs, plans and other necessary documents.

All conceptual designs will be on public display in Irvine City Hall and other locations throughout the County, and they will also be posted on the Great Park website, www.ocgp.org. The public is encouraged to review proposals and provide feedback. Public comments will be summarized and reported to the Board of Directors to assist them in the selection process.

The Great Park will be developed on the site of the decommissioned El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, on seven square miles of land in the geographic center of Orange County, California.