Pacific Coast Highway Fountain Grabs Attention

By Anne Boyd, ASLA Associate, Katherine Spitz Associates, Landscape Architecture & Planning, Marina del Rey, Calif.

 

The iconic Redondo Beach–King Harbor sign that marks the Pacific Coast Highway and Catalina Avenue intersection now vies with the new mist fountain for attention. The design has translucent glass sails lit via submersible surface-mounted LED floodlights of marine blue and green tones, set in a spiral of low maintenance, drought-tolerant plants.

Redondo Beach is a city known for its desirable Southern Calif. coastal location, associated with the lifestyle and images of beach, harbor and resort. The monumental Redondo Beach–King Harbor sign at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and Catalina Avenue is an iconic landmark for the city, recognizable to all who travel PCH through the beach cities.

As part of the city’s 2004-2009 capital improvement program, the Redondo Beach City Council approved development of a master streetscape plan for Torrance Boulevard and Catalina Avenue, crucial links between PCH and King Harbor in an area undergoing a transition from light industrial uses to mixed use. The streetscape master plan, completed in 2006, created a landscaped green street anchored at one end by the PCH/Catalina intersection and by King Harbor at the other, and included medians, signage, lighting and trees.

The colored concrete paving pattern is in bold black (“Ebony”) and white (“Sultana”), inspired by Japanese wood block prints of ocean waves. The light-colored concrete has an exposed shell aggregate finish. The landscape design preserved a coral tree on site and added two new coral trees to create a green canopy behind the misting fountain. Safety bollards run along the street side of the plaza.

When the city reworked the traffic pattern at the PCH/Catalina intersection in 2005 with funding from the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a patch of left-over land remained underneath the sign, approximately half an acre. The city then moved forward with development of landscape and hardscape improvements at the intersection, incorporating a public art feature, utilizing MTA funding.

The eyesore of bare earth under the sign at this prominent intersection was a concern to the community and the city government. Lively and engaged community interaction with the city council culminated in the selection of a preferred scheme for the gateway improvements in December 2006. The consensus for the site was for a welcoming park-like plaza to convey the identity and character of the city of Redondo Beach.

The design recognizes the need to capture the city’s identity in elements that can be comprehended at vehicle speed. But it also creates a place designed for pedestrians, to make a useful well-loved place for people out of a traffic island in an area where new development created the potential for more pedestrian activity and involvement.

The power company's right-of-way received a hydroseed mix of annuals and perennials, including California poppies. Ground covers include ceanothus “Yankee Point”, Dietes grandiflora “Variegata”, Lantana x “Monine”, Lantana montevidensis, Phormium tenax “Monrovia Red” and Phormium hybrids “Duet”.

The design goal for the original streetscape and the PCH/Catalina gateway project as it was implemented was to capture the qualities of the ocean environment: wind, spray, fog and movement. The design is a mist fountain with a sculptural centerpiece, set in a spiral of low maintenance, drought-tolerant plants. The paving pattern is a bold black and white, inspired by Japanese wood block prints of ocean waves, using concrete with shell aggregate surface. The landscape design preserved an existing coral tree, a venerable survivor with its own sculptural qualities, and added two new coral trees to create a green canopy behind the misting fountain.

The activity of beach and harbor here inspired the sculptural fountain. These steel and glass elements could be described as “sails” or “fins.” The scale of the fountain is designed to be appropriate to the enormous scale of the sign and to be readily visible and appreciable to passing motorists and pedestrians. The primary concept of the fountain was for an ever-changing mist and light show. Sails composed of translucent glass, along with the fountain’s mist, catch and reflect the light in unexpected ways throughout the day, while changing patterns and colors of energy-efficient LED lights in marine blues and greens create drama and interest as darkness falls.

This stunning new welcoming point into the city is part of the undertaking to revitalize the pier and harbor area. From the opening day of the project in Dec. 2008, traffic could be seen slowing to take in the surprising new sight at a familiar intersection. The new plaza and fountain have already become an iconic image for the city here on Pacific Coast Highway.

PCH/Catalina Gateway

Project Team
Client: City of Redondo Beach
Engineering & Building Services

Vendors
Colored concrete: Admixtures
Bollards: Louis Poulsen Dock Bollards along
the street.
LED fountain floodlights: Color Kinetics/Phillips C-Splash 2
PDS-15e controller: Color Kinetics.
Hydroseeding: S&S Seeds