The Park at Park Place

At the heart of Park Place’s 105-acre mixed-use campus is 3-acres of newly designed, vibrant, verdant community recreation and gathering spaces. Previously a passive-view garden and circulation space, the Real Estate Developer engaged the design team to rethink the campus’ open spaces and create an urban park that would enrich the daily experience of residential and office tenants, hotel guests, and the greater Irvine community. Though nearly 2 acres of the Park is set over an occupied structure, it is entirely accessible from its south face, offering spaces and trails for visitors to take a break, walk, and talk. Working off the existing formal geometries, berms, parterres, and layered planting interact with the existing mechanical structures and stem walls, deftly defining outdoor rooms, immersive garden spaces, and framing vistas to the surrounding Laguna Hills. Using native meadow grasses, locally adapted Mediterranean plants, and innovative reclaimed water over structure, the Park is a new model for sustainable, adaptive reuse of office campuses to create valuable urban open spaces in Irvine.