Changes Needed in Escondido Civic Center’s Phase Two

The problem of designing a large theater has challenges similar to those in creating a convention center: A large, boxy space must somehow be concealed within a graceful shell.

Architect Arthur Erickson, using repetitive, bold forms in concrete, has made the gigantic new San Diego Convention Center a fine piece of design. His excellent exterior detailing makes this building attractive to those arriving by car or foot.

It’s a landmark downtown project for downtown San Diego.

Architects Moore Ruble Yudell haven’t been nearly as successful in their design of the second phase of Escondido’s Civic Center, a $55.4-million complex that includes 1,500- and 400-seat theaters for stage productions.

The final design for the project, to be built in Grape Day Park downtown, which includes the new City Hall completed in 1988, was unanimously approved by the Escondido City Council last week.

The city hopes to break ground next fall, with completion expected in 1993. In addition to the theaters, the project will have an arts complex and a community meeting center.

Although the architects have created wonderful outdoor spaces, the bulky 100-foot-tall “fly tower,” which houses the mechanical equipment above the stage, sticks out like a sore thumb, unbroken by architectural detailing or other visual devices that could make it attractive.

Other potential problems include jarring combinations of roof treatments and a confusing variety of window and wall treatments used in an attempt to break down the main theater’s mass. There is also a possibility that the Civic Center complex will have insufficient daytime attractions--food stands, recreation and other forms of enjoyment--to make the park a success as a people place.

Months of refining should have resulted in a well-composed treatment of the big box that will house the necessary stage equipment over the main theater; at 100 feet, this “fly tower” will be the Civic Center’s tallest, most massive feature.

Instead, the theater, at least as depicted in model form, will sit hard by Escondido Boulevard, bulk unbroken by details that could tie it to the rest of the Civic Center complex--it’s flat roof setting it oddly apart from the pavilion or gable roofs used on the rest of the new buildings.

Project architect Renzo Zecchetto admitted that softening the impact of this looming box was the architects’ single toughest challenge. Instead of calling attention to this mass with architectural fussiness, the designers elected to place most of the design interest at the middle level of this and the other buildings in the second phase of the Civic Center project. Groups of small windows, varied wall angles and assorted architectural detailing will break these facades into forms a human can get close to without feeling overwhelmed.

Yet, instead of causing the larger theater’s bulk to fade into the background, the lack of detailing up high only makes it stick out like the proverbial sore thumb, at least on the model.

But the architects aren’t finished yet, Zecchetto said. City officials and community leaders have expressed a desire for some softening of the theater’s harsh mass. Options include a screening wall in front of the building’s prominent northern face, detailing on the building wall itself or a system of vine-covered trellises and palm trees.

Zecchetto said the architects favor the last approach, partly because it is most economical.

At this stage of the design game, though, when at least a year has already gone into the project, one expects a more polished design solution.

Other aspects of the architecture are also disappointing. The choice of roof forms is puzzling. Some roofs will have the traditional pitched form, while others, as on a few small towers, will be flat. Sometimes, the flat towers don’t merge well with the slanted roofs nearby.

It is difficult, though, to make a final pronouncement on these roofs. The material hasn’t been chosen, and could make the actual buildings look much different than a cardboard model. Flat tiles or a seamed metal are among the options being considered.

There is other evidence the architects didn’t arrive at a totally coherent design vision, the type of consistency which makes the new City Hall by Pacific Associates Planners and Architects of San Diego such a success.

Pedestrians won’t notice from the ground level, but there’s something jarring about the way the big theater’s northern wall drops from a flat roof on top to a slanted roof above the first floor, with twin buttresses flying above it.

Along Escondido Boulevard, the architects have softened the theater’s mass with many combinations of windows and wall forms, but the array of shapes and angles seems jarring, at least on the model.

At the level of the pedestrian, the architects appear to have done their strongest design work.

All along, the design of the entire Civic Center complex, including City Hall, has been driven by its location in the 17-acre Grape Day Park, Escondido’s miniature Balboa Park, a huge chunk of open space in the heart of the city.

The intention was always to keep this setting park-like, even with the addition of several new buildings.

Moore Ruble Yudell responded by pushing their buildings to the edges of the property, near the streets, preserving the interior as open space. A walk through the complex should prove to be an interesting stroll between the various plazas and courtyards.

The main entrance to the new theater complex will be off Escondido Boulevard on the western edge of the project. Here, a wide plaza of slightly ascending levels will lead pedestrians in between the large theater to the north and the nearby community theater, set behind a pergola at Escondido Boulevard and Valley Parkway.

Pergolas here and elsewhere are the same sort of vine-covered column-and-trellis outdoor walkways that became legendary San Diego architect Irving Gill’s trademark early this century. Some even use arches like the ones Gill favored. The pergolas, with many rows of trees, will soften the experience of entering the complex.

Every building has at least one courtyard related to it; most have several. Some are intended to be used for various gatherings. A courtyard off the back of the smaller theater could become an outdoor performance space, Zecchetto said. Eventually, he hopes the city will have the money to add doors to the back of this theater’s stage so that it can open to the courtyard.

Aside from the architecture, a larger concern has to do with the programming of the Civic Center complex, the kinds of uses selected for this public park. City Hall and theaters will dominate the site, with the community meeting building and arts complex as secondary uses. What will the new complex offer the person who comes to the park in search of a recreational or cultural experience during daylight hours?

A library might have been a good choice, but the city had already built a new one three blocks away at 2nd Avenue and Kalmia Street in 1983.

There are no now concrete plans for the kinds of things that make Balboa Park a success: food pushcarts, small cafes, a variety of spontaneous performers and many choices of exhibitions, performances, films and museums.

Both Zecchetto and Rolf Gunnarson, assistant executive director of Escondido’s Community Development Commission, say they have considered such ideas. A small food outlet and bar in the lobby of the larger theater might be open during daylight hours, and a kitchen in the community meeting building could be used to produce food for park visitors, not just for meetings within the building. Food vendors are also a possibility.

These kinds of people-oriented uses will be essential to animating the well-planned outdoor spaces, which will undoubtedly by the new complex’s triumph.