| The Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach, commissioned the Firm to design a replacement for the Festival frontage and fa็ade along Laguna Canyon Road. The design reimagines the Festival fa็ade as a nexus between the Village of Laguna and Laguna Canyon; between landscape and the built environment; between nature and art. Capturing the importance of the Festival by renewing the functional, formal and aesthetic image associated with the Laguna Canyon entrance and the experience of arriving at this historic site.
The design creates a new pedestrian promenade a forecourt and arrival place to mingle and gather with enhanced accessibility and seating connecting to transit and the Arts District. The new serpentine facade recalls the forms and materials of the canyon and provides the identity, security, noise and dirt mitigation essential to the Festival exhibitors and patrons
Starting low at the north and rising with the fall of the canyon the new Fa็ade culminates with and emphasizes the new entry an entry GATEWAY recalling the side canyon that the Festival park occupies a space in lieu of a barrier that welcomes patrons and the community to grounds
The Gateway to the Grounds is flanked and defined by image panels that seasonally will display Pageant masters as today but unlike today are mounted in front of a perforated copper wall with images of trees from the canyon landscape visible in the off-season
Similarly - and as the culmination of the new Fa็ade the promenade is defined at the south end by a frieze or entablature of patinated metals layered from silhouettes of the oaks, eucalyptus and sycamores of the canyon providing a year round identity for the FOA site REINFORCING the CONNECTION between ART and LANDSCAPE People and Nature Village and Canyon
The materials proposed are of the canyon landscape multi-hued exposed aggregate paving permeable for sustainable runoff management the serpentine wall of rammed earth the entry facades of reclaimed, patinated zinc and copper all naturally aging materials
The landscape itself is enhanced with native and ornamental plantings, seating and locations for added and relocated sculpture.
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