County of Orange County Administration North

The newest addition, the six-story, 250,000-square-foot County Administration North (CAN), opened in July, including a state-of-the-art hearing room for the Board of Supervisors designed to increase openness and public accessibility. A new public plaza connects CAN to its virtual twin, County Administration South (CAS), which opened in 2019 featuring an Apple store-inspired “one-stop shop” for the public to connect directly with 13 County departments.

The complex is part of one of the largest public-private partnerships (P3) of its kind in California, with Griffin Structures as lead developer, LPA as the design partner and Swinerton Builders as the general contractor. This partnership with the County covers 17 acres, 16 County-owned buildings, 4,600 employees and more than 1.6 million square feet of space.

The new Civic Center consolidates and reimagines the workplace for a dozen County departments, and significantly reduces the County’s operating costs. The design reduced energy use in the two buildings by more than 76% from the AIA 2030 Commitment benchmark, primarily through passive design strategies implemented by LPA.

“This is a remarkable story of conservation that creates significant savings, without alternative energy,” LPA President Dan Heinfeld said. “The buildings illustrate that an integrated, collaborative design process can create highly efficient projects to better serve citizens.”