Orange County Great Park
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The Orange County Great Park is the official name of a plan for the public, non-aviation reuse of the decommissioned 1,347-acre (5.45 km²) Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Irvine, California. It is a $1.1 billion project approved by the voters of Orange County in 2002. The park opened its first attraction, a balloon ride that takes visitors to 500 feet (150 m) for a panoramic view of the construction of the park as well as views of the county, on July 14, 2007.[1]
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[edit] Original plan
The former air station was initially planned for development into a major international airport. Opponents of the plan challenged the need for two airports in Orange County (El Toro and John Wayne Airport) only 7 miles (11 km) apart. Concern also was expressed regarding the safety of the proposed airport since commercial aircraft would have to take off over mountain terrain where at least one major military transport crash had occurred.
[edit] The Design Team
Ken Smith is a landscape architect who has worked on a wide variety of national and international projects, in both private and public practice. His background and training is in landscape architecture and the fine arts. In twenty years of practice, he has participated in many team endeavors and worked with a wide range of consultants and groups. His interests include landscape design of varying scale with a particular emphasis on projects that explore symbolic content and the expressive power of landscape as an art form. He is committed to creating landscapes, especially parks and other public spaces, with vision and meaning as a way of improving the quality of urban life.
Ken Smith is licensed to work in New York, California, and other states, and has lectured and been published widely. Educated at Iowa State University and Harvard University Graduate School of Design, he is an active educator and serves as a visiting lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
Steven Handel, Ph.D. Steven Handel studies the potential to restore native plant communities to many habitats, adding sustainable ecological services, biodiversity and amenities to the landscape. He has explored pollination, seed dispersal, growth patterns, and most recently, problems of urban and heavily degraded lands. He works with both biologists and landscape designers, trying to improve our understanding of restoration protocols and applying this knowledge to public projects. Dr. Handel was trained first at Columbia College and then received his M.S. and Ph.D. in ecology and evolution at Cornell University.
Mia Lehrer Mia Lehrer is the founding principal of the Los Angeles firm, Mia Lehrer + Associates. Born in El Salvador, Lehrer received her Masters of Landscape Architecture for the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Following her formal education, Lehrer gained valuable experience by working on large-scale public projects as well as inspirational gardens for residential clients. Today she is internationally recognized for her progressive landscape designs, unique amalgamations of graphic configurations, creating natural landmarks, and advocacy for sustainable, people-friendly public spaces.
Janet Marinelli As a director at Brooklyn Botanic Garden for more than sixteen years, a consultant to botanic gardens worldwide, and an author, Janet Marinelli has been at the forefront of the ecological revolution that is transforming botanic gard4n design’s techniques and tools, and advancing its entire style and philosophy. Marinelli has worked with some of the world’s most prominent gardens, including the New York Botanical Garden and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in the United Kingdom. An author and educator, Marinelli has written several books and has lectured at home and abroad.
Enrique Norton Ken Smith describes Enrique Norton as a designer who creates structures of grace and power. An international architect who was educated at the Universidad Iberoamericana and received his Masters of Architecture at Cornell University, Norton brings experience and talent to the Great Park Design Team. He has worked professionally in the field of architecture since 1976, and received numerous awards and honors for his designs.
[edit] Park plan
In 2002, after lengthy debate that lasted for over a dozen years, Orange County voters rejected the commercial airport plan and designated the land for park compatible uses. The history of the controversy is chronicled online by the El Toro Info Site[1]and in a book, Internet for Activists.
In November 2003, the city of Irvine annexed the air station property and was thus able to determine the Great Park's future by zoning.
Following the annexation of the property, the Department of the Navy held an online auction for the El Toro property. Miami- based Lennar Corporation purchased the entire property for $649,500,000 and entered into a development agreement with the City of Irvine. Under the terms of the development agreement, Lennar was granted limited development rights in return for land and capital that will allow the construction of the Great Park.
The agreement required Lennar to deed 1,347 acres (5.45 km²) to public ownership and contribute $200 million towards the development of the Great Park. Future property owners will contribute an additional $200 million toward the park's development.
The Great Park Plan focuses on the 1,347 public acres of the property and includes a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) canyon, a 26 acre lake, botanical gardens, a cultural terrace, lawns, performing arts venues, a sports park, and a wildlife corridor connecting the Cleveland National Forest to the Laguna Coast Wilderness. At 1,347 acres (5.45 km²), the Great Park will be larger than New York's Central Park, San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and San Diego's Balboa Park.
When completed, the park will be the largest municipal park in Orange County. The original plan for the infrastructure of the Great Park was virtually identical to Newport Center, with five roads connecting into a central loop road separating the park into "blocks". The design was later modified to include a large section of runway and conform more to the layout of the original base, as a reminder of its history. Most prominent in the park plans is the restoration of Agua Chinon Creek, which had been channeled underground ever since the base was built in the 1940s.
Recently however, in the midst of a U.S. housing crisis, Lennar has struggled to fulfill its part of the bargain, including delayed construction of planned housing and of a 'community facilities district.'[2]
In addition to trees that will be moved and replanted on the base, Southern California Edison has committed to contributing 50,000 trees to the Great Park.
[edit] Features of the park
The Canyon
- two and a half miles long
- a 60-foot (18 m) depth will have a cooler,climate change deeper in the canyon
- a lake for boating
- Streams and pools will run the length of the canyon
- bridges will cross the canyon at different points including the "Bridge of 2 Towers" which will provide a zig-zag path across the widest portion of the canyon
Cultural Terrace
- 122 acres
- museums
- library
Botanical Garden
- proposed 60 to 70 acres
- a garden bridge designed by architect Enrique Norten will connect the botanical garden to the cultural terrace.
Sports Park
- 165 acres
- proposed amenities include soccer fields, bat and ball fields, a skateboard complex, rock climbing wall, field house.
- a great lawn
Wildlife Corridor
- 3-mile long corridor for wildlife migration
- the corridor will link Cleveland National Forest in the North with Crystal Cove State Park in the south.
Veteran's Memorial
- Great Park Air Museum
- vintage aircraft on the remnants of the runway
Golf Course
- Will be Orange County's largest golf course, at 27 holes, possibly 45
- Former El Toro Golf Course being renovated
[edit] The Great Park Design Studio
A team led by prominent New York City landscape architect Ken Smith has been selected to design the Great Park.
The team, now known as the Great Park Design Studio, includes:
- Yehudi Gaffen, Design Manager, Gafcon, Inc.
- Enrique Norten, Architect, TEN Arquitectos
- Mia Lehrer, Landscape Architect, Mia Lehrer + Associates
- Craig Schwitter, Engineer, Buro Happold
- Steven Handel, Ecologist, Green Shield Ecology
- Patrick Fuscoe, Engineer, Fuscoe Engineering
[edit] References
[edit] External links
