Architect Envisions Irvine Theatre as ‘Fresh,’ Not Trendy

The chief architect of the new Irvine Theatre unveiled plans Wednesday for a facility that is not “trendy or avant-garde, but something classic, simple and straightforward that will seem as fresh 10 years from now as it will be when it first opens.”

Larry L. Cannon discussed his objectives at a news conference on the UC Irvine campus, near the 2.3-acre site for the complex. Ground breaking is expected next month, and the opening is scheduled for the fall of 1990.

The governing ambiance for the $17.6-million, 750-seat theater is “intimacy,” officials and backers said. Richard G. Sim, chairman of the theater’s board of directors, predicted that the theater will “act as a focal point for the arts in Irvine.”

Drawings and floor plans of the theater’s interior were arrayed on easels, along with samples of material from the wine-colored carpet and seats, the building’s metallic-blue exterior and the beige walls of the restrooms.

Cannon, of the San Francisco firm of Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons Inc., explained that the use of two aisles, rather than aisle-less “continental seating,” will permit placing audiences in a clearly defined central area during performances that do not fill the house.

(The 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall in the Orange County Performing Arts Center has continental seating.)

Cannon said he has been associated with the project for 10 years, and suggested that the theater’s design is “like a good bottle of wine. It’s had an opportunity to mature.”

The 20-year effort to build the theater was shaken recently when the low bid, made by the Los Angeles firm of Swinterton & Walberg, came in at $17.6 million, $5.4 million more than had been budgeted. On Dec. 13, however, the Irvine City Council voted unanimously to allocate an additional $1.8 million to pay a one-third share of the increase.

Both UC Irvine, which also donated the land, and the theater’s community board also agreed to pay $1.8 million each to cover the additional cost.

Thomas H. Nielsen, chairman of the theater’s board of directors and vice chairman of the Irvine Co., said the community “can raise the money needed to complete the project.”

Besides the multipurpose main auditorium, the complex will include a 120-seat studio theater. Both halls will be made available to community arts groups.

Because the Irvine Theatre will feature drama as well as music, Cannon said, provision has been made to adjust the acoustics.

These include an orchestral shell and a coil curtain that drops from the ceiling to provide a feeling of intimacy without dampening the sound.