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The new $34.7-million Palm Springs Convention Center in the city of hotels, resorts and golf courses is subtle, but it's also an architectural statement.
The stony, undulating, earth-toned structure blends into its surroundings like a cactus on the roadside.
"The design of the building echoes Palm Springs," said architect Curt Fentress, president of Denver-based Fentress Bradburn Architects, the project's designer. "The inspiration for it was the desert landscape, with its stark vistas, magnificent natural skyline and mountains, with craggy rock outcroppings."
Fentress said that even though the building is unique to the city, it is in total "harmony" with its surroundings.
"Our philosophy of architecture is to relate to the place and take what is beautiful and unique about it, and then weave that it into the design of the building," he added. "We try to mirror the natural beauty of the location."
The project, which opens this month, involved the expansion of the center from 149,500 sq. ft. to 261,000 sq. ft. Construction crews, led by New York-based Turner Construction Co., have added roughly 35,000 sq. ft. of exhibit hall space for a new total of 100,000 sq ft; 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting space for a total of 32,000 sq. ft.; and 38,000 sq. ft. or pre-function and registration space for a total of 50,000 sq. ft.
Two new delivery truck docks also have been added, giving the facility a total of 13.
Jim Dunn, the convention center's general manager, said the expansion means the facility can now accommodate 73 percent of the convention meetings that come to California. Before the project broke ground in April 2004, he said the building had space for only 42 percent of the meetings in the state.
"The demand that we were seeing for [convention] space was more than what we had," said Dunn, adding that the center averaged about 100 shows per year before expanding. "Groups need bigger spaces these days and we were too small to compete with other convention centers."
As an example, he cited the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Maryland, which has held its convention in Palm Springs every four years since 1990. He said that the last two times the group was in town (1998 and 2002), outside tents were needed to accommodate 12,000 members.
"There are plenty of other places they could go to where they wouldn't need to use tents," Dunn said. He added that the aircraft owners and pilots have now promised to come back to Palm Springs.
Dunn said bookings are expected to increase by 20 percent in the next four to five years. The facility hosted about 150 shows during the 18-month-long construction phase.
Located at Avenida Caballeros and Amado Road, the enlarged convention center borders a 410-room Wyndham Hotel and is a block from the new $95 million Spa Resort Casino. It is five minutes from the Palm Springs International Airport.
Turning and Tweaking
To better incorporate the convention center with the city's downtown district, and to take advantage of the majestic views of nearby Mount San Jacinto, Fentress Bradburn turned the main entryway 180 degrees around to face the west.
Patrick Crosby, president of Redwood City-based The Crosby Group, the project's structural engineer, said that because the building was turned, the original moment-frame structural system had to be tweaked.
"We had to develop a scheme (which took about a year) to take a moment frame that was at the east end of the building and convert it over to a truss that would span 180 ft.," Crosby said.
"We took the existing moment frame and welded all the truss members within the frame and got it to where we basically built a whole new truss within the framework. And when it was all in place, we cut away the columns, and then instead of having a moment frame there, it was now a truss, which we tied off to the north for lateral support."
The building's earthy architecture is reminiscent of a modern Stonehenge. Featuring a sweeping roofline, designed to recall the flowing profile of the San Jacinto mountains, the structure is supported by 50-ft.-high, curved sandstone pillars, which are clad at the top by a 6-ft. band of copper totaling 41,000 sq. ft. There is also a swooping awning that encloses full-length glass walls, which allow visitors to see the mountain from virtually any angle.
"The architecture takes my breath away," said landscape architect Michael Buccino, president of Palm Desert-based Michael Buccino Associates, the project's landscaper.
Buccino, whose company's designed a total of 135,000 sq. ft. of exterior enhancements for the job, said that his landscape scheme had to be an extension of the building's architecture.
"We have to make an artistic statement that is worthy of the architecture itself so the two work together as one," Buccino added.
In all, Buccino's company planted about 70 palm, desert willow and palo verde trees, as well as about 200 shrubs of 13 different varieties. On the east side, his workers planted 13,000 sq. ft. of Tifway Bermuda grass. In the facility's front courtyard, they designed a 36-ft.-long by 13-ft.-wide water pond with a 12-ft. waterfall.
He said that for him the landscaping highlight was the 50 gigantic boulders that were strategically placed around the site's perimeter.
Ranging in size from 5 tons to 33,000 lbs., native granite stones were trucked in from the nearby desert environs and were hoisted with either a 70-ton or 120-ton crane.
"We had to place some weighing about 18 tons within 6 in. of the building copper fascia," said Buccino, who was on-site everyday with his "hands on the rocks," working alongside the crane operator.
"We had to take our time and move the boulders in very slowly." <<
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