City of Newport Beach – Civic Center Offices

Firm
  • Client City of Newport Beach,
  • size 117,000 sqft
  • Year 2013
  • Location Newport Beach, California, United States,
  • Industry Non-Profit / Government,
  • Bohlin Cywinski Jackson has developed a new Civic Center campus for the city of Newport Beach.

    Using the central organizing principles of governmental transparency, democracy, clarity, and sustainability, BCJ worked with the City to develop a new Civic Center, creating what Council Member Ed Selich hailed as a “new civic vision” for the City. A new city hall, library addition, and new garage bound a new public outdoor space, the city’s “civic green.” This civic core opens onto a new 17-acre park that includes a restored wetland.

    The Civic Center was designed to be understood at the scale and speed of the car, while providing a satisfying sense of place for users who come to the city hall, library, and park. The project is inspired by its Southern California beachside location, reflected in the light and airy palette, the many subtle nautical references, and the numerous outdoor spaces around the city hall and library made possible by the almost always sunny, pleasant climate.

    The site features a series of native and drought tolerant landscape settings encompassing a rehabilitated wetland, children’s and picnic areas, a new dog park, and two belvederes with commanding views of the Pacific Ocean. The two site parcels are traversed by a web of walking trails and connected with a new pedestrian bridge.

    All staff, whether in an enclosed office or at a workstation, enjoy daylight and views. The long, narrow building allows for literal and figurative transparency. Not only can one see through the building at any point, but all staff are visible, as well. Reception areas, conference rooms, teaming areas, and other common areas ring the perimeter of the city hall, allowing all to enjoy the best light and views. Underfloor air, operable windows, automated clerestory windows, and daylight harvesting, in addition to being energy efficient, also provide great spaces for people to work.

    A light and elegant steel frame reflects the city hall’s sunny, ocean-side location. Stone cladding provides civic gravity at the important public spaces of the council chamber and the community room. Over head, undulating wood ceilings evoke the maritime location and cast a warm glow on the spaces below.

    Color is used at key points, with bright yellow marking areas of circulation, and varying shades of green and blue providing a calm work environment in the city hall, as well as quiet places of study in the library addition.

    Design: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
    General Contractor: CW Driver
    Photography: Nic Lehoux, Tim Griffith