Project Data:

Completion Date:     1/16/2023

Square Footage:      72000

Building Use:           Higher education, Dance Studios, Performance Studios, Classrooms, Offices/Meeting Rooms, Lounge Spaces

Project Description:

The Sandi Simon Center for Dance is an expansive new education and performing arts center at Chapman University that redefines a former orange packing house. Landmarked by the National Register of Historic Places, our adaptive reuse strategy preserves the exterior identity while opening the interior structure with a calculated cut through the original floor that allows for a reorganization into three levels and forms a new circulation through the space.

The Dance Center houses five studios for dance instruction, a performance studio that provides space for small concerts and master classes, two classrooms, a training room, and faculty offices. It addresses not only the studio and classroom needs of the dance program, but also provides spaces for students to socially engage.

Originally built as a two-story headquarters for the Santiago Orange Growers Association in 1918, the post and beam heavy timber frame building is representative of the industrial vernacular style of its time. Villa Park Orchards Association took over the building in the late 1960s to expand its operations. Chapman University’s purchase of the building signifies a dedication to the preservation of this local historic landmark.

The adaptive reuse strategy required precise planning and innovative strategies to transform the former orange packing house, from a one-story warehouse space with an unused, uninhabitable basement, into a multi-level Center for Dance. This process included celebrating unique elements of the existing building, utilizing the original wood flooring as a material for the new design, and incorporating new structural elements.

The design approach of opening the former floor of the 1918 orange packing building allows light to permeate from the historic sawtooth roof—with its north-facing clerestory windows--to all levels of the Dance Center. This innovative strategy preserves the exterior identity of the culturally and historically significant shell, while amplifying the beautiful features of the interior.

Polycarbonate, selected for its reflectivity and translucency, layers walls and openings in ways that allow the architecture to reflect the ideas of movement and the ephemeral nature of performance embodied in the program. Enormous historic trusses were left exposed and rendered at once lofty by the view from the lowest level and tangible from the proximity to them at the mezzanine; and historic, operable clerestory windows have been retrofit with actuators to open and expel heat when triggered by the mechanical system.

The three levels allow for student performances, studios, classrooms, and study spaces within the vibrant circulation and encourages interactions and conversations to spill out of the studios into the atrium between classes, into the courtyard for warm up, yoga, social space, and into the larger campus.

Design for Integration, Design for Equitable Communities, Design for Economy, Design for Well-being, Design for Resources 

The Sandi Simon Center for Dance is an expansive new education and performing arts center at Chapman University that redefines a former orange packing house. Landmarked by the National Register of Historic Places, the architect’s adaptive reuse strategy preserves the exterior identity while opening the interior structure with a calculated cut through the original floor that allows for a reorganization into three levels and forms a new circulation through the space. The Dance Center houses five studios for dance instruction, a performance studio that provides space for small concerts and master classes, two classrooms, a training room, and faculty offices. It addresses not only the studio and classroom needs of the dance program, but also provides spaces for students to socially engage. A quiet room at the third level mezzanine provides a particularly intimate space for studying alone or collaborating in small groups. The new home to the Dance Department meets and exceeds NASD accreditation standards, achieves Fitwel certification, and provides a central and inspired environment for students and faculty that brings greatly needed and significantly more instructional and performance space to the program.

The adaptive reuse strategy required precise planning and innovative strategies to transform the former orange packing house, from a one-story warehouse space with an unused, uninhabitable basement, into a multi-level Center for Dance. This process included celebrating unique elements of the existing building, utilizing the original wood flooring as a material for the new design, and incorporating new structural elements.

Polycarbonate, selected for its reflectivity and translucency, layers walls and openings in ways that allow the architecture to reflect the ideas of movement and the ephemeral nature of performance embodied in the program. Enormous historic trusses were left exposed and rendered at once lofty by the view from the lowest level and tangible from the proximity to them at the mezzanine; and historic, operable clerestory windows have been retrofit with actuators to open and expel heat when triggered by the mechanical system. Additionally, practice studios abutting the western facade are defined by double wall and window assemblies to minimize the acoustics of passing trains and to create a balanced acoustic environment for dance. And surprising visual connections between spaces—for example, a window between a third-floor classroom and a second level dance studio, animate the experience of the dance students.

Design for Economy
The Dance Center is situated within the historic shell of a former orange packing house. Through utilizing the existing structure, both historic elements and economic measures were able to be addressed. The main dance studio can also be used as a performance theater, and it is equipped with retractable seating. On the mezzanine, glass walled classrooms can open and expand to be adaptable with the space needed. Additionally, the dance studios are adaptable to other uses such as yoga workshops, fitness instruction, or meeting spaces for organizing student activities.

Design for Equitable Communities
The Sandi Simon Center for Dance takes the program of a school for dance and expands it into a vibrant communal center for all students. This was achieved by incorporating several programmatic additions that benefit all members of the Chapman University community including gathering spaces and benches within the circulation, carved out study spaces on the mezzanine, and private enclosed rooms available for students. With the adjacent K Residence Hall across the courtyard, incorporating these elements achieves a greater educational experience for all students and promotes student-led discussions and organizing.

Design for Well-Being
Prioritizing student experience and support, this project features a student mezzanine with a long, shared bar table, a quiet room with acoustical baffling and double curtain surrounds for solo concentrated work and small collaborations, and bench seating with stepped amphi-bench for social break out spaces along the central gallery. Windows between classrooms, dance studios, and the mezzanine allow for visual connections to be made throughout the Dance Center. The enrichment of the experience also includes Escalette Art Collection pieces installed and inspired by ideas of movement, porch with rocking chairs, and courtyard enhancements for study and socializing.

Design for Resources
The adaptive reuse strategy opens the original floor to create a three-story space, accommodating programs with large spatial requirements in addition to more intimate areas for teaching and gathering. The layout of the mezzanine classrooms and meeting areas are aligned with the truss layout, maintaining the experience of the historic sawtooth roof. Positioned under the original exterior walkway, the main entrance presents the experience of compression and reveal as students, teachers, and visitors enter the central atrium, creating an awe-inspiring encounter.

Completion Date:     1/16/2023

Square Footage:      72000

Building Use:           Higher education, Dance Studios, Performance Studios, Classrooms, Offices/Meeting Rooms, Lounge Spaces

Location:                 Orange, CA

Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]

Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]
Principal-in-Charge: Lorcan O’Herlihy
Project Director: Ghazal Khezri
Project Lead: Joe Tarr
Project Lead: Abel Garcia
Project Team: Morgan Starkey
Project Team: Kathryn Sonnabend
Project Team: Ian Dickenson
Project Assist: Kevin Murray
Project Assist: Wentao Guo

Chapman University

Structural: Structural Focus
MEP: Buro Happold
Civil: KPFF

General contractor: R.D. Olson

Interior designer: Dotrio, Inc.
Acoustical: Veneklasen Associates
Historic: Historic Resources Group
Signage: IN-FO.CO
Theatre Consultant: Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
Architectural Lighting: Auerbach Glasow and HLB

Photography: Eric Staudenmaier