Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA)

The Orange County Museum of Art is building a bold new home at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. Exceptionally community-oriented, it includes large sets of public stairs and a roof terrace which serve as communal hubs for gathering and are central to connecting OCMA to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and its Julia and George Argyros Plaza.

The new building features 25,000-sf dedicated to galleries, a sculptural wing hovering over the lobby atrium and a 10,000-sf education center that can be configured as a black-box theater or a light-filled studio.

KPFF is providing site grading, paving, and utility design to assist the development in maintaining the aesthetic continuity of the Argyros Plaza at the north boundary and also grading on deck in coordination with the plumbing engineer to create a separate, distinct meeting space on the outdoor mezzanine of the proposed building. KPFF helped navigate complicated easements which granted the other private stakeholder’s rights. Civil engineering challenges included a complex Water Quality Management Plan process and designing the new building to maintain aesthetic continuity with the existing Segerstrom plaza to the north while also maintaining its own unique aesthetic identity.

Learn more about the project at the OCMA website.