CORONA DEL MAR SITE : FINALISTS CHOSEN FOR ARTS PROJECT

Newport Beach’s first Art in Public Places project has moved a step closer to reality with the selection of three proposals for transforming a scrubby bluff in Corona del Mar into the site of Orange County’s most ambitious public arts undertaking.

If all proceeds on schedule, by June, 1988 the project will begin at Corona del Mar’s Inspiration Point, which has a spectacular ocean overlook.

After reviewing project proposals submitted by six collaborative teams of landscape architects and artists, the Newport Beach Art in Public Places Advisory Committee last week narrowed the list to three concepts with widely differing personalities.

The goal of the project is to retain the vista of the erosion-prone, three-leveled site while providing functional aspects (walkways, seating areas, trash disposal, drinking fountains), ground cover and plant materials that are durable, safe and easy to maintain. Additional elements, including “integral artworks,” were left to the discretion of each landscape architect-artist team.

Funding for the project comes from several sources: $100,000 from the city budget, about $31,000 from the proceeds of the Newport Beach “Salute to the Arts” event and $20,000 to $25,000 from the Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission (initially earmarked to tidy up the bluff), for a total of about $150,000.

Models and plans for the proposals have been on view in Newport Beach City Hall since late May. On Tuesday night, before the Advisory Committee’s vote, the six teams made formal presentations to a sparsely attended public meeting in City Council chambers.

Finalists were Dike Runa of Newport Beach with artist Tony DeLap; Cunningham Design Inc. of Santa Barbara with artists Helen Mayer, Newton Harrison, Paul Hobson and Marcello Petrocelli, and The L.A. Group Inc. of Los Angeles with artist Lloyd Hamrol.

“Your first impression is, ‘Does this (site) really need a piece?’ ” said L.A. Group president Roger Presburger with disarming candor. His group tried, he said, to intervene “as lightly as possible” with the natural attractions of the area.

Their proposal, estimated to cost $165,890, has a playful, sportive air. A red-colored asphalt area adjacent to Ocean Boulevard is intended to suggest a welcoming red carpet. Wooden stairs typical of beach areas are edged with a railing made of copper screen framed in brass.

The stepped silhouette of the railing is meant to echo the shape of the steps, and the metals are intended to weather gently in the sea air. At the middle level of the site, boulders and timbers form a seating area. And at the water’s edge, a “beach raft” construction--also alluding to a dock or seagoing vessel--is aflutter with flags.

Project manager Rob Pressman said the use of different materials and a varied design scheme creates “a procession” with varying experiences for the visitor.

The Dike Runa-Tony DeLap proposal, estimated to cost $144,393, takes its cue from the relationship between Inspiration Point and its “sister islands” that at one time were part of the mainland. Undulating stepped tiers designed “to participate with the seasonal distribution of sand” are the most striking features of this stripped-down, keenly abstract concept.

At the uppermost area of the site, adjacent to Ocean Boulevard, formed concrete fans out and concrete walls are angled to line up with Santa Catalina and San Clemente islands.

A non-slip walkway leads to the middle level, where seating is provided along the rim of a brass “nautical ring” alongside a V-shaped concrete element angled toward Point Fermin and the Santa Barbara Islands.

A pathway narrowed from its present size (to provide a more “personal” experience for the pedestrian) leads to the beach level--”the connection of the land to the sea”--where the site is left pretty much unchanged.

“We were always looking at how we could tie the piece into that specific site,” Tom Runa said after the finalists were announced. “It couldn’t be moved anywhere on the coast (because of) the ties to the Southern California islands.”

“Disappearing Path” is the title of the thoughtful, tactfully self-effacing proposal concocted by Cunningham Design Inc. and artists Mayer, Harrison, Hobson and Petrocelli. Estimated to cost $402,770 in its completed form, the project is intended to allow the functional elements to “disappear” so as not to detract from the natural beauty of the site.

The upper level is lowered about five feet to create “a more intimate environment.” Carved boulders in this “sunken plateau” serve as benches and tables and are clustered to offer intimate spaces for the many visitors who come to enjoy the view. One boulder is planned as a fountain, recycling water (possibly only for part of the day) that will shimmer in sunlight and “catch and reflect the color and light of the sunset.”

An undulating concrete path (in texture and color, similar to the sand below) sunken below the grade of the hill leads to the middle plateau. More boulder perches and step-seats within the steel retaining wall provide another resting place.

In place of the mangy clumps of iceplant now dotting the bluff, the Cunningham proposal involves replanting the site with deep-rooted coastal bluff vegetation requiring no watering. The group has identified 11 plants formerly found in similar environments that would reduce erosion at the site. This scheme (which also includes a “cascading stairway”) would cost more than twice the project budget.

Designer Susan van Atta of Cunningham said the group created the plan in phases. (Phase one--the sunken path, the middle plateau, steps and boulders at the beach level and re-vegetation--is estimated to cost $150,000).

“To just complete the first phase, it would really stand on its own,” she said. “We don’t see it as a half-baked solution.” Van Atta also suggested that, considering the ecological nature of the project, non-arts sources as yet untapped might be interested in paying for it.

Public comments at the meeting were largely concerned with upkeep of the site and the erosion problem. “We’re asking the artist to take over a job the city is responsible for,” one Corona del Mar resident said. “Before we spend money on a piece of art, we should ask, is the art going to be there because of erosion?”

The eight-member Newport Beach City Arts Commission will pick one of the three designs “within the next 30 days,” according to Deborah Polonsky, Arts Commission chairwoman. The City Council, which reserves the right to reject all designs, will make a final decision on this proposal by the end of September.