Local Architects Honor School Designs, ‘On-the-Boards’ Projects

The Orange County chapter of the American Institute of Architects has honored projects conceived by local architects that are still “on the boards”--designs that are not yet built. Of the eight awards (in “honor,” “merit” and “honorable mention” categories) bestowed at AIA’s meeting Friday, three were for educational buildings.

The UC Irvine Science Library--designed by James Stirling, Michael Willford & Associates of London and the IBI Group of Newport Beach--won an honor award. Lawrence W. Speck, professor of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin and spokesman for the four-member jury, called the circular edifice with massive vertical wings “a monumental building of great presence” and further praised its “beautifully functioning” interior with private study. He said jury members were “a little concerned,” however, about the folded glass on the facade.

Speck added that the jury was “surprised” to learn that the library was designed in association with Stirling, the eminent British architect: “We just liked it because we liked it.” Working drawings are being completed for the project, and bidding on the construction is scheduled in October.

New Elementary School, Wood Ranch Site in the Simi Valley, by the Blurock Partnership of Newport Beach, also won an honor award. “No one deserves good architecture better than little kids,” Speck said, singling out the project’s “strong, clear concept” and “well-developed plan” in which diverse elements are unified “under a simple, broad roof.” Construction is expected to begin next spring, pending design approval by the school board.

Chapman Hills Elementary School in Orange, designed by Dougherty & Dougherty of Newport Beach, won a merit award. Speck said the organization of the plan--small groups of classrooms under an expansive roof--gives the building the feeling of a big, community-embracing “house.” Construction has begun, and the project is scheduled to be completed in February.

Designed by Mark H. Singer & Associates of Laguna Beach, the Singer Residence--the architect’s own house in Laguna Beach--won an honor award for “very experimental, personal expression” and the “sensual quality of space and materials.” The concrete walls were inspired by the materials of the house in which Singer’s wife, Myriam, lived in her native Peru. The house is under construction.

Another award of merit was given to Valley Telecommunications Headquarters in Van Nuys, designed by Leason Pomeroy Associates of Irvine, for “the ability to make a vernacular industrial remnant into a very sophisticated and humanized environment” in which even the tower serves as a visual symbol for telecommunications. Groundbreaking is scheduled for January.

Honorable mentions went to Mark A. Keller & Associates of Huntington Beach for a budget-minded solution to low-income housing on a multi-use site--the Rugby Senior Apartments in Huntington Park--and to Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo of Newport Beach for a renovation scheme for the Ritz-Carlton Huntington in Pasadena.

The “People’s Choice” award--voted by passers-by who saw renderings of the 85 entries in South Coast Plaza’s Jewel Court last week--went to St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church, designed by Grillias Pirc Rosier Alves of Irvine.

During introductory remarks, Speck noted dryly that the jury had been “intrigued by the ‘Mission-ization’ of Orange County. We saw more red-tile roofs . . . “ The audience of 500 architects and guests roared with laughter.

The Newport Harbor Art Museum’s recent decision to fire internationally renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, and to replace him with Kohn Pedersen Fox & Associates of New York, didn’t pass without comment.

“They’ve traded Ingmar Bergman for Steven Spielberg,” lamented one local architect, even though he said he had serious reservations about the effectiveness of Piano’s design because of its heavy dependence on state-of-the-art technology.

Another architect expressed surprise at his colleague’s quip: “Spielberg? Oh, I would have said someone with a lot less artistry than that.”

The jury also included James A. Murphy, profession and industry editor of Progressive Architecture magazine; William Turnbull Jr., director of William Turnbull & Associates in San Francisco; and Peter Walker of Peter Walker Associates, a San Francisco landscape architecture firm.