Monday, April 11, 2011

Sacramento Bee: Bold Civic Center Design for Elk Grove

It's meant to startle – and it does

Published: Monday, Apr. 11, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
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Before the turn of the decade, Elk Grove set out to create a "world-class" civic center – an instant tourist attraction to lure visitors and enhance city coffers.

The design was expected to create a breathtaking building conceived by an internationally known architect. Its impact would parallel what the dramatic Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay did for the city of Redding.

The uniquely designed Sundial Bridge was transformative for Redding, former Elk Grove Planning Director Christine Crawford said in 2007. Today, Sundial Bridge continues to generate millions of dollars worth of commerce and tourism each year in the city, Redding City Manager Kurt Starman said.

Now, some four years after the ambitious Elk Grove project was launched, the City Council has given mixed reviews to a "design concept" for the planned civic center.

The vision for what the center could be was created by London architect Zaha Hadid and the Sacramento office of Stantec Architecture Inc. under a $450,000 contract.

Hadid's drawings are riveting. The council-favored rendering evokes a stingray at ground level. Some say it looks like a starfish, or perhaps an octopus or jellyfish or flower from an aerial view. There is nothing remotely like it in the region.

On March 23, the council unanimously – if tepidly – saluted the rendition for its representation of how the complex ought to be laid out.

The 78-acre civic center complex includes: a 100,000-square-foot library; a hotel and conference center; a 24,000-square-foot children's discovery center and museum; and 20,000 square feet of retail space, with half devoted to a destination restaurant. It also includes up to 40 acres for athletic fields and facilities to host high-end sports tournaments.

In 2006, the project was estimated to cost $162 million. Council members now say it will cost millions more.
The detailed design work will come later under a separate contract, said city Planning Director Taro Echiburu.

A review of the March 23 meeting videotape shows that council members who were supposed to focus on the layout – where key components of the project would be located – instead seemed preoccupied with the startling overall design.

In the project's drawing, the outsized, otherworldly structure seems far removed from the surrounding environs. The city of 153,000, one of the Sacramento region's largest, has been fast-growing. In the project's new development area, former agricultural land known as Laguna Ridge, planned homes tend toward the traditional, with schools, shopping and parks.

"It's something different. Like wow," Councilman Jim Cooper said when the Hadid vision was unveiled.
"I believe we can make it work," Cooper said. "This will be the center of the city. Folks will want to come here. I support it."

Councilman Pat Hume was complimentary and critical. He approved of concentrating the density of the building to the north, adjacent to Elk Grove Boulevard, as well as the beauty of the atriums and the rooms that "give definition to the public space," he said.

But, he added, "I do think the animal that is being depicted is from another planet. There is futuristic and forward-looking (design). Then there is science fiction."

The design needs to look forward and anticipate future developments in architecture, Hume said, but not "so abruptly that everything Elk Grove has done to date is cast aside and lost."

Last week, two other council members said they were keeping open minds. "It's a little 'out there,' " Councilwoman Sophia Scherman said.

Councilman Gary Davis said cost will be an issue and that he expects the actual design to be scaled back. "From an art perspective, the design they showed us is pretty incredible and certainly would put this building on the map," he said. "But it's not economically feasible."

Resident Sharon Lynes, who spoke to the council, was blunt in her criticism. "These ideas do not reflect our city's past, present or future," she told the council. "This is not us. Do you want this to be seen from outer space? Well, it will be. Right now it looks like an octopus plus a starfish."

Echiburu, the planning director, told The Bee last week that there is community support for the project but that it wasn't evident at the March council meeting.

"The ultimate design concept was developed by Zaha Hadid," he said, but it evolved after public comment at several workshops. "The layout had support from the public."

Starman, the city manager of Redding, recalled that the startling design of the Sundial Bridge generated controversy, too, when it was conceived.

The bridge is a pedestrian span that straddles the Sacramento River and is next to the 300-acre Turtle Bay Exploration Park and Museum. The span designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava features a 217-foot inclined pylon that makes it the world's largest sundial, with the pylon as the gnomon – the part of a sundial that casts its time-telling shadow.

The bridge project was contentious during the planning and even during the construction, Starman said. But that was primarily due to its $23 million price tag and "some misunderstanding about how it was being funded."

Twenty million dollars for the bridge came from a philanthropic source, McConnell Foundation in Redding. The city's $3.1 million investment came from the local Redevelopment Agency and a federal grant, Starman said.

Construction took more than three years.

It will take far longer to build a civic center in Elk Grove. Echiburu said exploring public-private financing for the project comes next.

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