Landscape Architect Articles

Spirit in the Landscape03-01-08 | News

Spirit in the Landscape

By Stephen Kelly, editor

From atop the grand staircase and central cascading water runnel, just down from the Worship Center, the view is to the Promenade and one parking area of Saddleback Church in Forest Lake, Orange County, Southern California.

While many people think of Orange County (O.C.) Calif. as an upscale community on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, when you motor up El Toro Rd. in Lake Forest in southern O.C. to Saddleback Church, you?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Just off El Toro Rd. before you get to the bikers?EUR??,,????'?????<

Above and Below: The landscape architects felt the Mediterranean play area for children ages 6 to 12 required a strong landscape edge to separate it from the church access road and the nearby toll road. This was accomplished with a hardscape of boulders, trees (evergreen elms, pink trumpets, maytens, Canary Island and Mondell pines and a New Zealand Christmas tree), and outcroppings of copper fountain grass and African iris. The play area has a fishing village theme featuring a life-size whale (Jonah and the whale)?EUR??,,????'?????<
Photos by Guy Nelson

When Rick and Kay Warren came west to Saddleback in December 1979 with their worldly possessions in a U-haul truck, perhaps Pastor Rick didn?EUR??,,????'?????<

From the Worship Center you descend past queen palms, tipuana trees and holly ferns to the Garden of Eden, one of seven special gardens designed for Saddleback. This Eden, however, has a sunken patio area of flagstone. There are fruit trees of course, including a signature apple tree.

Saddleback Church is associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, but Pastor Rick has a ?EUR??,,????'?????<

The 1,350-foot-long promenade, over the hill from the Children?EUR??,,????'?????<

Editor?EUR??,,????'?????< On November 29, 2007, Hillary Clinton spoke at Saddleback Church. It was Rev. Rick?EUR??,,????'?????<

The stepping stone stream is 4 to 6 inches deep upstream, with a maximum depth of 18 inches downstream. The stream has 6-in. shotcrete steps with irregular edges and a cobbled bottom. Two colors of stain were applied to the concrete surface for a mottled effect.
Photo by Dan Herman, RLA of R/Hdo

Southern California is known for its ?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Photo by Dan Herman, RLA of R/Hdo

Some first-timers are surprised by the large video screens, the piped-in music and the live music, which might include a vocal duet accompanied by piano, organ, drums, electric lead guitar, electric bass, two saxes, two horns, strings and woodwinds.

The Children?EUR??,,????'?????<

The Project Intent

The Children?EUR??,,????'?????<

From the plaza hub are four zones of ?EUR??,,????'?????<

CMC was intended to be the first construction in a series of planned projects, including a similar center for older children, a chapel, classrooms and other administrative uses. The church leadership had a desire to create a strong landscape statement and a pedestrian campus.

The wood structure at the far end of the Children?EUR??,,????'?????<

Role of the Landscape Architects

The Rabben/Herman Design Office, the landscape architect firm, was retained after master planning of the three-building complex. The landscape architects worked with the religious education staff to identify 22 Bible stories to integrate into the site design. The selected Bible stories were intended to be incorporated into the landscape to illustrate religious instruction, but that was secondary to their visual appeal. Following this work, detailed working drawings and specifications were prepared for all hardscape, landscape planting, play areas, irrigation and water features.

The concrete archway and ledgestone veneer connect the Garden of Eden to the Children?EUR??,,????'?????<

Significance

CMC has a high degree of visibility. Saddleback Church hosts meetings and conferences for groups across the U.S. and from many foreign countries. The play-area concept and integration of the Bible-story elements have been used by many other churches as models for development of sites across Southern California and the U.S. The design of the play areas was so well received that church officials found the areas being used as public parks by residents of the surrounding neighborhood, which motivated the church leadership and membership to advance other planned projects and further build out the campus.

From the Tree House you look down to the Ark play area. The little triumvirate of boulders is set in the SAF DEK surfacing, which is the edge for the wood chips. The play equipment is by Kompan. A Samuel Sommers magnolia is in the concrete planter.

Special Factors

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This tranquil setting of rock, water and evergreens at the Promenade Bridge is perfect for contemplating the infinite. The sides of the bridge are ledgestone with a concrete cap and the surface of the bridge a board-formed concrete that replicates wood.

The integration of the Bible stories into the landscape in artistic and playful ways is a unique aspect of the overall design. A life-size whale to play on, an ark with pairs of spring animals and a stream that features the ?EUR??,,????'?????<

The Discovery Zone is along the main education building and has a series of custom designed play modules of concrete with L.M. Scofield colors (fern green, antique amber, copper patina and custom blue. They look a bit like ancient ruins and symbolically reflect the Old and New Testament. The concrete pavers in the courtyard transition to colorful, spongy safety surfacing here. A ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Design Challenge

One of the design challenges was presenting a baptismal pool without visually separating the pool from the Children?EUR??,,????'?????<

The stairway at the end of the Promenade is bisected by a concrete runnel veneered in ledgestone. The runnel is in line with and draws the eye to the cross at the top of the Worship Center.

The design also introduced state-of-the-art irrigation equipment with central controls and weather station monitoring to increase efficiency of the campus-wide irrigation. The estimated water savings to the campus is over 35 percent.

Saddleback Church?EUR??,,????'?????<

Firm: Rabben/Herman Design Office (R/Hdo), Newport Beach, Calif.

Note: At the 70th anniversary celebration of the Southern California ASLA Chapter, December 6, 2007, R/Hdo won two Merit awards, one for the project featured here, Saddleback Church, and for Etnies Skate Park.

R/Hdo Principals for the Saddleback Church Project

William Rabben III, RLA, a Sonoma, Calif. native, studied landscape architecture at U.C. Berkeley and Harvard. Early on, he was a senior associate with Sasaki Associates in Watertown, Mass., then moved back to California and became an associate and project designer with the SWA Group in their Laguna Beach and Sausalito offices.

Bill was principal and design director for the Southern California office of EDAW (1982-1991) and started his own firm in 1993, Office of William Rabben.

Bill?EUR??,,????'?????<

Daniel Herman, RLA, was principal and vice president of the international firm of EDAW for 13 years and Harland Bartholomew & Associates for 12 years prior to co-founding R/Hdo.

His notable work includes directing site development for Universal Studio?EUR??,,????'?????<

Tom Skinfill, ASLA has 25 years of resort and hotel experience, including work in Asia. He worked with Bill Rabben at EDAW over 20 years ago, so the old working colleagues are together again.

LASN?EUR??,,????'?????<

pea gravel in concrete

red colored paver

ledgestone veneers plus board-formed concrete that replicates wood

colored concrete

flagstone paving ?EUR??,,????'?????<

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granite boulders

colored pea gravel in concrete