Culver City, California–based SPF:architects (SPF:a) recently unveiled plans for the Anaheim Performing Arts Center (APAC), an agriculturally inspired 11-acre complex in California’s Orange County. SPF:a’s vision includes a 2,000-seat concert hall, a 1,700-seat opera house, and a 600-seat black box theater, along with a museum, restaurants, and offices.
For the project, SPF:a studied Anaheim’s most famous agricultural product: the orange. The fruit was the basis of the puckered geometries and the perforated copper-anodized aluminum panel cladding that wraps them. The site’s gridded layout follows that of an orchard as well, with each building representing a tree.
Judit M. Fekete-Pali, SPF:a president and CEO, said in a statement, “The design strategy helps break down the architectural masses—no more soulless, vast, and uninviting interior public spaces. Each program element operates independently and together.”
The 500,000-square-foot campus is projected to cost $500 million and will be completed in 2021.
