Villa Park Orchards Chapman University

The Villa Park Orchards Association (VPOA) Packing House was originally built in 1918 for the Santiago Orange Growers Association. The Packing House played an important role in the early formation of the citrus industry in Orange as the largest Packing House in the City and by 1929, the world’s largest exclusive shipper of oranges. KTGY’s Community Planning and Urban Design studio was commissioned to lead the design team through the preparation of a comprehensive adaptive reuse plan of the main packing room as a museum and student services center. The project also involved development of a new student apartment building to fulfill the high demand for on campus housing. The new building is designed in a “U” shape around the excavated courtyard and relates directly to the newly exposed basement of the existing Packing House. The new building’s mass is also stepped down to provide visual access from the street to the Packing House’s south façade. The interior design of the packing house will preserve the open packing room floor and basement as well as the exposed roof structure and sawtooth skylights. The exterior of the packing house will be restored to its appearance during the period of significance by removing some later additions, restoring the original paint colors, and installing building signage that replicates the original Sunkist sign. An interpretation of the rail spur that originally ran through the front of the property is recalled through special landscape and hardscape treatments. Creatively designed monuments along the spur includes text and historic photos that tell the history of the packing house and the neighborhood.

West Palm Avenue & North Cypress Street, Orange, CA