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The former Sunkist facility is a culturally significant local structure located on-campus. The adaptive reuse strategy required precise planning and innovative strategies to transform the former orange packing house, from a one-story warehouse space with an unused, uninhabitable basement, into a multi-level Center for Dance. The project celebrates the character-defining features of the rare and historically significant facility: the ceiling trusses, clerestory windows in the industrial sawtooth roof, and exposed wood paneling. Our strategy opened the structure with a calculated cut through the original floor, bringing natural light downward through all levels. Salvaged original packing house flooring has been redeployed to create the signature wall of the new soaring central space.
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The Sandi Simon Center for Dance takes the program of a school for dance and expands it into a vibrant communal center for all students. This was achieved by incorporating several programmatic additions that benefit all members of the Chapman University community including gathering spaces and benches within the circulation, carved out study spaces on the mezzanine, and private enclosed rooms available for students. With the adjacent K Residence Hall across the courtyard, incorporating these elements achieves a greater educational experience for all students and promotes student-led discussions and organizing.
The Dance Center is situated within the historic shell of a former orange packing house. Through utilizing the existing structure, both historic elements and economic measures were able to be addressed.
This project is the winner of the AIA National Interiors Award, AIA Los Angeles Design Award, AIA California Design Award, Architect Newspaper Best of 2023, the AIA Orange County Honor Award for Commercial Interiors with Special Commendation for Historic Preservation, and the California Historic Preservation Award.
Originally built as a two-story headquarters for the Santiago Orange Growers Association in 1918, the post and beam heavy timber frame building is representative of the industrial vernacular style of its time. Villa Park Orchards Association took over the building in the late 1960s to expand its operations. Chapman University’s purchase of the building signifies a dedication to the preservation of this local historic landmark.
“The recently opened Sandi Simon Center for Dance (SSCD) at the Packing House provides a new home for a premiere academic program to flourish. As a physical anchor, it fosters cross campus connections through its performance studio and through its physical linkages both to the emerging north-south Cypress Street Arts Corridor and the soon-to-be east-west campus Philosophers Walk” - Collette Creppell
Founded in 1994 by Lorcan O’Herlihy, FAIA, Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects [LOHA] is an internationally renowned architecture and urban design with offices in Los Angeles and Detroit. LOHA has built a robust portfolio of work rooted in embracing architecture’s role as a catalyst for change. Enacting a powerful alliance of inventive designs with vigorous social ideals, the work at LOHA prospers whether it is supportive affordable housing in South Los Angeles, creative offices, or designing cultural institutions like Chapman University Dance School.
Since 1994, LOHA has built over 100 projects across three continents. LOHA has been published in over 20 countries and recognized with over 100 awards, including the Architect Magazine’s ARCHITECT 50 #1 Design Firm Award, AIA California Council Distinguished Practice Award, and AIA Los Angeles Firm of the Year Award. In 2025, LOHA was recognized as #1 in Architecture on Fast Company’s list of World’s Most Innovative Companies.
