Dos Lagos Heart & Public Areas

The functional and experiential components of the architectural discourse of the Project include well-defined built spaces: 1) the entry plaza; 2) the gateway canopy; 3) the garden armature; 4) the 350-seat amphitheater embraced by garden armature; and 5) the bridge area. These components make up an architectural whole and create a complimentary interaction of spaces through the articulation of forms.

The defined architectural space is established by the bamboo and steel-ribbed skin covering a 15-foot wide pedestrian promenade that undulates for nearly 1,000 feet and bisects the two butterfly-shaped lakes. This skin will be, in turn, accented by climbing rose vines to create a garden armature that shades the visitors’ experience while blending the edges of the built and natural environments. The pedestrian promenade forms the axis of the project - running north-south through the canyon and uniting the mixed-uses and functions into a cohesive community.

The pedestrian promenade defines the human scale through maximization of views of the mountains, waterfall, and lakes. It orchestrates the manipulation of light with the organic undulation of irregularities of the natural imperfections of the bamboo poles and the openings in the steel ribs to create the texture of the skin. Manipulation of light is achieved through a deliberate alignment along the true-north orientation of the bridge, the project’s climax. Nonetheless, the bamboo exercises a formal discipline in its horizontal alignment along the pedestrian path. The positioning of the varying openings and shadings takes into consideration the sun’s path as well as the most desirable views in blocking the presence of the nearby freeway and in contrast, opening a picture frame to the waterfall. The distancing of the bamboo poles allows air to circulate through the structure producing evaporative cooling to mediate the inland valley’s harsh summer climate.

The 9-foot waterfall conjoining the elevations of the two lakes is an accent to compliment the architectural statement. The white noise produced by the waterfall encapsulates people’s experience — distancing the headaches of suburban traffic congestion and defining a micro-environment in touch with evocations and references to the natural context and the history of the land.

The entry plaza to the amphitheater functions as a mediator between the commercial street and the communal gathering spaces of the amphitheater. This is the atrium. The amphitheater is contained within a form, despite the fact that it is an open space, by being contained by the embrace of the curve of the garden armature.

The Project, the vortex of connectivity of the entire 543-acre master planned community, is designed to not only channel pedestrian traffic but also foster commercial activities in the form of movable kiosks placed along the garden armature (a reference to the historic florentine Ponte Vecchio).

Conceived as a fully integrated community, the project pushes mixed-use to its fullest potential-providing space for a variety of life-styles, age groups, activities and productive life. More then a patch work of segregated land uses, the vision for the project re-accommodates the context to draw the pieces together into a cohesive live-work-play community.

The urban design strategy is based on the linearity of a pedestrian path that connects the multiple uses of 121-acre, west-side section of this 543-acre mixed-use community. As indicated in the scheme, this strategy has been materialized by establishing a north-south linear axis that structures the multiple uses of the entire complex. Pedestrians can experience a diversity of community functions-from the retail center organized around a main street concept; continuing through the common areas of the amphitheater and the entry plaza; being swept along the pedestrian promenade through the garden armature to the climax at the nine-foot waterfall and bridge; and on towards the lemon grove that divides the live-work on one side and the hotel / educational center; and, finally, ending at the office complex. Throughout this experience, architecture is used to provide adequate scale, a sequential and surprising experience while creating synergy among the various mixed land uses.

In urban design terms, the center piece is the vortex of connectivity for the multiple functions of the use-intensive west side of the community. The central feature that sets the development apart from other master planned communities is its core: a 10-acre park inhabited by two, 3.5-acre, butterfly-shaped lakes with a central nine-foot-high waterfall. An undulating walkway covered in bamboo, vines of American roses, concrete, and custom-milled ribs of steel runs between the two lakes and bridges the foot of the waterfall. On the southern curve of the lakes, this garden armature curls around a 350-seat amphitheater. A circular walkway, harking to the city’s nickname of the “Circle City”, circumscribes the lake, which is framed by a tapestry of multi-chromatic bands of landscaping. The center piece defines a focal point upon which all activities in the mixed-use West Side converge. In addition, the center piece creates a sense of place and identity.

The architect working simultaneously as an urban designer, transformed a two-dimensional scheme to a living and habitable space. This space is notable for the quality of defined interventions to add quality to spaces as they relate to their context. For example, the urban design becomes habitable and welcoming through architectural realizations of the urban design concepts such as human scale as defined by building masses and textures and their interaction with landscaped- and architecturally-designed open spaces.

In addition, the urban designer working as architect had the opportunity to reinforce this concept through four important pieces: 1) garden armature covering the pedestrian promenade; 2) residential live-work and active senior complex currently under construction; 3) an office building to be the home of the development company currently in design; 4) the conceptual design for a hotel, conference center, community college satellite campus, and parking garage reinforces the urban design concept to create a cohesive set of architectural comments on the fundamental urban design concepts. All these architectural concepts celebrate the urban design strategy of reinforcing the dialog between built and open spaces, utilizing the climate of Southern California to blend the experience between enclosed and open space.

Project details

* Project Name: Dos Lagos Heart & Public Areas
* Client: SE Corporation
* Project Type: Mixed-Use Development
* Principal Designer/s: Norberto F. Nardi, AIA
* Design Team: Nardi Associates LLP
* Contractor/s: Consolidated Contracting Services Inc.
* Date of commencement of project: October, 2003
* Date of completion of project: October 5, 2006
* Location of site: Corona, CA
* Site Area: 12 acres
* Built-up Area: 12 acres
* Cost of Construction/Execution: $12 Million