Architecture design
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.
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Park design
The existing site required significant technical effort to allow for the realization of successful horticultural conditions. The park was designed by PWP Landscape Architecture. The park is conceived as a series of planting characters that respond to both design program and existing conditions, linked by a series of meandering paths. Civic gardens adjacent to City Hall in the southern portion of the site transition to park land made up of multiple meadows, habitat for native flora and fauna, trails, bridges over an existing wetland, and extensive native California planting. Sustainable practices include on-site storm-water treatment with extensive swales and retention basins integrated into planting.