Bigger and Beautiful

Palm Springs is enlarging its convention center in an effort to book larger meetings. The building's sandy-colored facade is intended to "capture the rhythm" of the nearby mountains. Fentress Bradburn Architects and Turner Construction Co. expect to have the $32.3 million project completed in September.

By Greg Aragon

The $32.3 million expansion of the Palm Springs Convention Center has moved into the structural steel stage and is on schedule for a September completion.

	The expansion of the Palm Springs Convention Center will dramatically alter the facade of the existing facility and increase its size from 155,000 to 261,000 sq. ft. The job was undertaken to keep Palm Springs competitive with other cities' larger, more modern convention centers (photos by Greg Aragon).

The expansion will dramatically alter the facade of the existing facility and increase its square footage from 155,000 to 261,000. The job was undertaken to keep Palm Springs competitive with other cities' larger, more modern convention centers and to differentiate the arena from hotels with large meeting areas.

"The refurbished center will be able to accommodate 73 percent of the meetings that currently come to California, versus 58 percent, and is expected to have a significant positive economic impact on the community," said Jim Dunn, the convention center's general manager.

Expansion highlights include 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting and ballroom space; 34,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space; and 38,000 sq. ft. of pre-function and registration area space. There will also be a 20,000-sq.-ft. outdoor function lawn for dinners and receptions, a 14-bay loading dock, high-speed Internet access throughout the building and about 3,500 sq. ft. of new administration offices.

Before the enlargement, the center, which was built in 1985, hosted about 120 shows per year, with an average of 2,500 people. When complete, officials expect the new center to welcome more than 200 shows per year over the next three to five years for roughly 5,000 people per show.

The expansion was designed by Denver-based Fentress Bradburn Architects and is being headed by New York-based Turner Construction Co.

advertisement

A key element to the Fentress blueprint-and the idea that won the company the design contract-is the shifting of the venue's main entrance from the building's east side, facing away from downtown Palm Springs, to the west side. That opens up the building to the city.

The change will serve the city's strategic plan of unifying the downtown Palm Springs area, allowing convention-goers easier walking access via landscaping and sidewalk treatments to area hotels, inns, shops, restaurants and a new casino. It will also yield sweeping views of 10,000-ft. Mount San Jacinto.

Alex Thome, project manager with Fentress Bradburn, calls the design style "Regional Contextualism," a concept in which the surrounding area is architecturally, historically and culturally interpreted into the design.

	The project's architect, Denver-based Fentress Bradurn Architects, gave the building a curved profile. Irregularly shaped canted stone pylons were designed to mimic the mountain and the way the water runs down it in ravines (rendering courtesy of Fentress Bradburn).

"We based the building on the theme of the desert and the desert wash and the mountain range that is on the west side of Palm Springs," said Thome, whose company is currently working on the Pasadena Convention Center Expansion. "The desert wash is an organic shape and so the edge of the building is also organically shaped and curved."

The building's curved profile and irregularly shaped canted stone pylons were designed to mimic the mountain and the way the water runs down it in ravines. Thome said the pylons, stretching 50 -ft. high, with foot prints averaging 12 ft. by 20 ft., are meant to "march along" the building's sandy-colored facade and capture the "rhythm of the mountain range."

The center has remained open for 16 events after the project broke ground on April 19.

Bill McLaughlin, Turner's project executive, said workers have had to tiptoe the line between construction and conventions.

"We had to build two insulated temporary walls (each 45 -ft. high by 180 -ft. long to keep noise and dust out, so they could still have shows and act as if there's nothing going on," McLaughlin said. "We have to have weekly client meetings to keep things coordinated."

The convention center is located four blocks from downtown Palm Springs and less than 1 mi. from Palm Springs International Airport. Its 40-acre site is bordered by Avenida Caballeros on the east, Calle Alvarado on the west and Amado Road on the north.

The center is directly accessible by a large roll-up door to the 410-room Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel and within a short walk of a number of major hotels.