Los Angeles Times Architecture Critic Names Great Park One of the Best Designs of 2007

    IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Los Angeles Times
 architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne named his picks for the Best of
 2007. He cited the Orange County Great Park as an example of one of the
 year's best designs that, "help Los Angeles build its architectural
 momentum." In a story featured in the Sunday, December 16, 2007 edition of
 the LA Times, Hawthorne cited progress at the Orange County Great Park led
 by Ken Smith and the team of designers turning the old El Toro Marine Corps
 Air Station into a 1,300-acre park saying, "the park continued this year to
 make impressive strides."
 
 
 
     "The emerging design by Smith, Mia Lehrer and others is cheeky and
 smart, inventive about sustainability and conservation but never
 naturalistic," says Hawthorne. He added, "The Museum of Contemporary Art's
 Paul Schimmel has joined the group as an art consultant, proposing, among
 other ideas, amusement-park rides designed by artists and a range of
 earthwork-sized attractions. Enrique Norten, the team's lead architect, has
 done wonders with small-ticket items such as drinking fountains, bike
 lockers and pedestrian bridges. If he ever gets a collection of actual park
 buildings to sink his teeth into, watch out."
 
 
 
     "Being named one of the Best of 2007 by architecture critic Christopher
 Hawthorne demonstrates the Great Park is building momentum," said Larry
 Agran, Chair, Orange County Great Park Corporation. "Hawthorne's comments
 reflect the creative talents of those chosen to design the Orange County
 Great Park as being simply the best."
 
 
 
     The Orange County Great Park, which is almost twice the size of Central
 Park, will be a major metropolitan park and the focal point of the
 redevelopment of the 4,700-acre former Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro.
 The Great Park will include extensive natural areas and open space in
 addition to recreational and cultural uses.
 
 
 
     For more information, please go to www.ocgp.org.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SOURCE The Orange County Great Park