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Beacon Park, Irvine, Calif. Landscape Architecture by Valley Crest Design Group  Photos: Brad Nelson, StudioK1
At the edge of the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif., a unique family of neighborhoods is taking shape. Centrally located between neighborhoods, local landmark destinations, and other community parks, Beacon Park serves as a gathering point for all of the Fivepoint Great Park neighborhoods. With many adjoining walking trails and community-wide bike paths, Beacon Park is expected to receive visitors from all directions. Born from the idea of "navigation" and inspired by man's methods of navigating throughout time, the triangular Beacon Park expresses forms of air, land and sea navigation within its details, and is designed as a place where kids can explore, discover, and learn about the key features that define "navigation." Different landscape features, trails, and built elements help enhance the experience and encourage various activities. Landforms within the park define edges and provide privacy from surrounding activity while creating interesting circulation patterns. The park uses gravel, decomposed granite, and native vegetation to maintain a natural looking environment. 
By Air The main entrance of the park, at the intersection of Beacon Street and Benchmark, shows the influence of air navigation. Structural vocabulary is inspired by aircraft flight patterns during takeoff, with winged shapes and upturned roof angles. This area features community-oriented spaces for large-scale events including movie nights, farmers' markets, and sports. The welcome center, in the middle of the area, is set "in the land," as if it is emerging from the ground. The center's sliding glass walls open to a large patio lounge and community kitchen space complete with kitchen amenities, firepits, and views of the park. Beside the welcome center, a large multi-purpose court covered with flight-inspired shade structures provides a flexible space for basketball, hopscotch, or community gatherings. A bike barn, bocce ball court and life-sized chessboard are set near the court. The edges of the walks, planters and other horizontal surfaces mimic flight descent patterns with rounded edges and smooth transitions.  
By Sea Directly across from a new K-8 school on the west end of the site, sea navigation extends educational opportunities to students at the park's learning center. Inspired by the wind patterns of the Portolan Grid that charts destinations over seas, geometric forms in this area are sharp and angular with architecture that is "on the land," with an emphasis on strong connections. This sector of the park is comprised of an intimately scaled garden environment featuring a pool, spa, and several lounges. Adjoining the pool is the learning center, an outdoor classroom and lounge with large slate art and learning walls, a variety of seating, and a glass fireplace. A family oriented barbecue garden is also in this area, featuring seating and walking opportunities that separate the park from the adjacent housing tracts.  
By Land The third region of the park features organic and curvilinear landscape forms that allude back to land navigation and the purity of our environment. In this sector, the architecture is "above the land," with play equipment enticing children to climb, and a tree house floating amongst three large heritage trees. Play equipment is organized into separate areas that provide opportunities for different ages to enjoy and be stimulated by adventure. The tree house, a large platform structure woven into the branches of the trees, separates the playgrounds. It includes a large shaded observation deck that overlooks the park and movable furniture to creatively transform the space. Integrated handrail lighting and floor-mounted color changing LEDs bring the tree house fully to life after sunset. A curvilinear suspended walkway connects to the nearby trail system, while a spiral slide provides a fun way to drop down into a play area complete with climbing ropes to the underside of the structure. 
The landscape environment of Beacon Park is designed to be naturalistic with three unique plant communities. The street corridors that define two edges of the park are comprised of the grasslands, while the community edge is the deciduous zone that allows for ample shade and privacy. Where these two zones meet, ecotones, or landscape transition areas, are introduced to encourage connections across habitats and to support species richness and diversity. The most noteworthy planting selection is the collection of heritage trees reclaimed from the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station that once occupied the area. These mature trees add an abundance of character, their unique identities fully displayed to park-goers through thoughtful and strategic arrangements. 
Successes The park had several design and construction challenges that shaped the final product into a multi-functional space suitable for all ages. As both the symbol of the neighborhood and a centralized gathering point, Beacon Park promotes access to immediate and surrounding communities. This volume of traffic meant that the park required strong connections for pedestrians, bicycles and cars. The park facilitates all travelers, but strongly promotes bicycle travel, with a dedicated bike pavilion where cyclists can park, pump up tires, or make minor repairs. 
Possibly the biggest obstacle for the design and construction teams was the tree house. The concept was a large lounge space - a beacon visible to the whole park - that all ages could explore and enjoy, nestled amongst three of the site's heritage trees. Rather than create a platform that only a few children could fit in, the team worked to make a house that could contain many groups of children and adults. It became immediately apparent that it would be environmentally impossible to support a structure like this from just the trees themselves, so the tree house morphed into an elevated platform with trunk-like connections to an underground structural footing. The integration between the tree branches is still very present as the curvilinear skywalk brings you up between two trees, passes you directly through the trunk system of the central tree, and into the tree house between trees and branches. The design and construction teams spent hours coordinating the exact dimensions and techniques that would be used to place the walkway between the trunks of a tree without damaging any of the components. 
The lighting design brings new life to the park after dark. The accent lighting on the heritage trees provides focus to the nodes of the triangle; sparkling LED strings create an aura of magic. Local code mandates specific levels of illumination on park walkways to create a safe and secure environment. Amenity spaces provide lantern-like respites while the color-changing tree house serves as the "Beacon" of the park. The true success of the park is evident from the laughter of the children who enjoy its nighttime wonder, and the faces of the parents who appreciate its sophisticated design and amenities. 
Team List
Developer: FivePoints Development Landscape Architect: Valley Crest Design Group Architect: Ware Malcomb Lighting Consultant: StudioK1 Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Low Voltage Engineering and Audio Visual: tk1sc Civil Engineering: Hunsaker & Associates Structural Engineering: KPFF General Contractor: Park Builders, LLC; Snyder Langston Landscape Contractor: Valley Crest Landscape Electrical Contractor: ESI Contracting Pools: Aquatic Technologies Dry Utilities: Morrow Management Geotechnical: Engeo Incorporated Signage Design: RSM Design Signage Contractor: Outdoor Dimensions  Widget is loading comments...
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