Just the Facts, Please

It takes more than high hopes and wealthy donors to build a performing arts center. Following is a partial list of the physical ingredients that compose Orange County’s cultural edifice, a kind of “everything you ever wanted to know” rundown.

Fact: Building the Orange County Performing Arts Center required 15,000 cubic yards of concrete--enough to build a patio the size of six football fields.

Fact: Holding the Orange County Performing Arts Center together is 433 tons (122 miles) of reinforcing steel bars, 5,600 tons (8,000 individual pieces) of structural steel and 55,000 nuts and bolts.

Fact: Six miles of dry-wall partitions and 1,000 tons of plaster went into the construction of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Fact: Two miles of wooden handrails wind through the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Fact: The Orange County Performing Arts Center is illuminated by 7,200 light bulbs.

Fact: The Orange County Performing Arts Center’s huge glass wall comprises 147 “lights” (panes) of glass, each measuring from 2x2 to 4x8 feet.

Fact: The Orange County Performing Arts Center has 40 miles of electrical conduit containing 170 miles of wire.

Fact: Planning the Orange County Performing Arts Center required 500 sheets--6,000 square feet--of blueprints.

Fact: Six miles of piping at the Orange County Performing Arts Center serves 121 standard toilets, 17 toilets for the handicapped, 42 urinals, 124 sinks, 34 standard showers and 3 showers for the handicapped.

Fact: Readying the Orange County Performing Arts Center for opening required 3,600 gallons--21 tons--of paint.

Fact: Carpeting in the public areas of the Orange County Performing Arts Center totals 11,000 square yards, with an additional 7,044 square yards covering the backstage, dressing rooms, corridors and administration areas.

Fact: The air-conditioning system at the Orange County Performing Arts Center can store 150,000 pounds of ice, and some of the air-conditioning ducts are large enough for a person of average height to walk through comfortably.