
Newport Beach, Calif., an affluent beachside community of roughly 85,000 people, is known for its Pacific Ocean views, high property values, and idyllic temperate climate. Yet near the center of town, there was a 20-acre eyesore: a plot of land so hampered by height restrictions to maintain views and so covered by degraded man-made wetlands that it was considered commercially undevelopable. Who better, then, than the city itself to turn this eyesore into a civic center and community hub?

With an effort led out of its San Francisco office, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ) won the commission to outfit the site with a new 100,000-square-foot City Hall that runs alongside a public green. Anchoring the green at the north end is a late addition to the project brief: a 17,000-square-foot addition to an existing public library that serves as a backdrop for public events. And bordering it on the other side is a parking structure that accommodates 450 cars; pedestrian paths crisscross the green every 60 feet to allow access between the two long structures on either side. But this built context is only a fraction of the site, which also includes a community park with a lookout tower to capitalize on ocean views, a pedestrian bridge to allow safe passage across a nine-lane roadway that bisects the site, Newport Beach’s first dog park, and other amenities.

Despite being a civic project in a security-conscious age, the project as a whole is characterized by a sense of transparency—both literal, in terms of its glazed walls, and conceptual. Instead of having a single grand lobby, the City Hall is accessible via a series of entrances, connected by shaded pathways and outdoor circulation. Visitors can walk straight from the green into the council chamber (a volume marked by a curvilinear fabric roof that serves the dual purpose of solar shading and iconic branding to distinguish it from the regularized bays of the main building). “It’s a sustainable approach,” says BCJ principal Peter Bohlin, FAIA, of the fact that the various entries and porches allow for natural ventilation in the temperate climate, “but it is also very much a democratic way of imagining a City Hall as a place for people.”








Drawings


Project
Credits
Project Newport Beach Civic Center and Park, Newport Beach, Calif.
Client City of Newport Beach
Architect Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, San Francisco—Peter Q. Bohlin, FAIA (lead design principal); Gregory R. Mottola, AIA (principal in charge/design principal); Steven Chaitow, AIA (principal/project manager); Joshua Keller, Daniel Lee, AIA (lead project architects); Brigham Keehner, AIA, Yvonne Riggie, Karolina Kaczmarczyk, Ryan Simpson, Christopher Eastman, Jeffrey Lew, AIA, Nicholas Ruiz, Michael Waltner, Lena Shah, Helene Gregoire, Yung Chang, Chris Dobosz, Sandy Lam, Arash Archer Firouzi, Lulu Fang, Ashley Hinton, Dominique Price, AIA, Reggie Stump, Jen Kishi, Erika Miele, Shawn Wood
Landscape Architect PWP Landscape Architecture
M/E/P, Structural, and Civil Engineering/Lighting, Sustainability, and Telecommunications Consultant Arup
Cost Consultants C.P. O’Halloran Associates
Acoustics and Audiovisual Charles M. Salter Associates
Food Service Hammer Design Associates
Code Consultants The Fire Consultants
Security TransTech Systems
Graphic Design and Wayfinding Ph.D, A Design Office
Waterproofing Allana Buick & Bers
General Contractor C.W. Driver
Photography Nic Lehoux, David Wakely, and Tim Griffith
Size 20 acres; 100,000 square feet (City Hall); 17,000 square feet (library addition)
Cost $105 million
Material and Sources
Ceilings 9Wood (linear wood) 9wood.com; Armstrong (acoustic panels) armstrong.com; Newmat USA (stretched PVC) newmatusa.com; Owens Corning Eurospan (stretched fabric) conweddesignscape.com
Flooring Architectural Granite and Marble (stone) agmgranite.com; Haworth (access) haworth.com; Shaw Contract Group (custom carpet) shawcontractgroup.com
Furniture Arper arper.com; Artek artek.fi; Coalesse coalesse.com; David Rowland hermanmiller.com; Davis Furniture www.davisfurniture.com; Eagen; Republic of Fritz Hansen fritzhansen.com; Harbour Outdoor harbouroutdoor.com; Herman Miller hermanmiller.com; Haworth haworth.com; Humanscale humanscale.com; KI ki.com; Knoll knoll.com; Magnuson Group magnusongroup.com; Metro-Wire metro-wire.com; Vode; West Coast Industries westcoastindustries.com
Furniture Dealers IOS (Interior Office Solutions) (systems) interiorofficesolutions.com; Pivot Interiors (seating and ancillary) pivotinteriors.com
Lighting B-K Lighting bklighting.com; Bega bega-us.com; H.E. Williams hewilliams.com; Kurt Versen Co. kurtversen.com; LBL Lighting lbllighting.com; Legion Lighting Co. legionlighting.com; Linear Lighting Corp. www.linearltg.com; Litelab Corp. litelab.com; Lumenpulse lumenpulse.com; Philips Color Kinetics colorkinetics.com; Selux Corp. selux.us; Vode Lighting vode.com
Lighting (Library Only) Erco erco.com; Lucifer Lighting Co. luciferlighting.com; Philips Ledalite www.ledalite.com; TMS Lighting tmslighting.com; Zumtobel www.zumtobel.us
Millwork Montbleau & Associates montbleau.com
Textiles Designtex, A Steelcase Company designtex.com; Knoll knoll.com; Maharam maharam.com; Momentum Group themomgroup.com
Translucent Resin Panels Lentech Composites lentech.us
Wall Finishes Arcadia (interior storefront) arcadiainc.com; Montbleau & Associates (wood wall panels) montbleau.com; Vista Paint Corp. (paint) vistapaint.com