On July 14, Los Angeles County will conduct a dedication and open house for its 1,200-seat John Anson Ford Theater, the 97-year-old outdoor performance center nestled in the Hollywood Hills that has received a $72.2 million facelift, which took more than four years to complete.
Two of the three construction phases for this project were completed a year ago, including the restoration of the Ford Amphitheater stage with a Brazilian walnut Ipe hardwood deck. The theater is adjacent to a 32-acre park, whose hillside sloping was stabilized with retaining walls and other erosion-control measures.
Artist support spaces have been expanded, and new theatrical and AV infrastructure was installed, including the creation of a sound wall that encompasses a projection booth and control room, catwalks, and an upgraded lighting platform. A sound barrier will help muffle vehicular noise coming from the nearby Highway 101.
The outdoor theater is located in the hills of Cahuenga Pass, surrounded by a 32-acre park whose landscaping was stabilized and upgraded as part of the renovation. Image: Tom Bonner
In addition, a new three-story structure with a full-service loading dock below and offices above was constructed. An 87-seat black box theater, [Inside] the Ford, was repurposed as a 580-sf self-serve food marketplace and community room. All told the renovation and restoration added 3,500 sf of “found space” from bedrock under the stage, and a 2,315-sq picnic terrace that can seat up to 110. (Crumble Catering is the marketplace partner.)
The John Anson Ford Amphitheater has always been a less-conspicuous, littler cousin to the more-famous, 17,500-seat Hollywood Bowl.
Among the refurbishings of John Anson Ford Amphitheater is the installation of a new Ipe hardware deck for the stage. Image: Tom Bonner
Opened in 1920, the amphitheater was designed, somewhat bizarrely, to resemble the gates of ancient Jerusalem. Christine Wetherill Stevenson, heiress to the Pittsburgh Paint fortune and a playwright, was instrumental in securing the land and building for the original theater, which staged her drama “The Pilgrimage Play.”
In 1976, the theater was renamed in honor of John Anson Ford, and L.A. County supervisor who founded the L.A. County Arts Commission. (The county owns the theater.)
The Building Team for the renovation and restoration included Levin & Associates Architects (design architect), Pankow Builders (construction services), Cumming Construction Management (project manager), Structural Focus (SE), Lucci & Associates (EE), The Sullivan Partnership (M/P engineer), Mollenhauer Group (CE, Survey), McKay Conant Hoover (acoustical and AV engineer), Wiss Janney Elstner Associates (material conservation), Mia Lehrer + Associates (landscape architect), Horton Lees Brogden (lighting design), Leighton (geotechnical), Sussman Prejza & Company (signage), and Theatre Projects (theatrical).
Related Stories
| Nov 18, 2014
Fan of the High Line? Check out NYC's next public park plan (hint: it floats)
Backed by billionaire Barry Diller, the $170 million "floating park" is planned for the Hudson River, and will contain wooded areas and three performance venues.
| Nov 17, 2014
'Folded facade' proposal wins cultural arts center competition in South Korea
The winning scheme by Seoul-based Designcamp Moonpark features a dramatic folded facade that takes visual cues from the landscape.
| Oct 23, 2014
China's 'weird' buildings: President Xi Jinping wants no more of them
During a literary symposium in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged architects, authors, actors, and other artists to produce work with "artistic and moral value."
| Oct 20, 2014
UK's best new building: Everyman Theatre wins RIBA Stirling Prize 2014
The new Everyman Theatre in Liverpool by Haworth Tompkins has won the coveted RIBA Stirling Prize 2014 for the best building of the year. Now in its 19th year, the RIBA Stirling Prize is the UK’s most prestigious architecture prize.
| Oct 16, 2014
Perkins+Will white paper examines alternatives to flame retardant building materials
The white paper includes a list of 193 flame retardants, including 29 discovered in building and household products, 50 found in the indoor environment, and 33 in human blood, milk, and tissues.
| Oct 15, 2014
Harvard launches ‘design-centric’ center for green buildings and cities
The impetus behind Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities is what the design school’s dean, Mohsen Mostafavi, describes as a “rapidly urbanizing global economy,” in which cities are building new structures “on a massive scale.”
| Oct 12, 2014
AIA 2030 commitment: Five years on, are we any closer to net-zero?
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the American Institute of Architects’ effort to have architecture firms voluntarily pledge net-zero energy design for all their buildings by 2030.
| Oct 2, 2014
Budget busters: Report details 24 of the world's most obscenely over-budget construction projects
Montreal's Olympic Stadium and the Sydney Opera House are among the landmark projects to bust their budgets, according to a new interactive graph by Podio.
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
