Spanning over 100 acres in Anaheim, California, is OC Vibe. An entertainment district designed to deliver a more engaging experience for everyone. It’s a result of the shared passion of individuals committed to giving Orange County the downtown that didn’t exist like this before. Once completed, this neighborhood will bring new life to the area and will offer over 35 new restaurants, 2,000+ modern residences, 500+ hotel rooms, a 25,000 seat arena, and more. It’s a hub for a vibrant culture as represented by a bold color palette.  

The OC Vibe Vision

The vision for this project between Architectural Material Solutions (AMS) and Longboard Architectural Products (Longboard) was clear: to maximize visitor capacity through a large parking structure to support this new neighborhood. AMS had worked with Longboard on other projects and knew their products and systems would be the best option for this structure.

Longboard’s Design Services Technician, Jeff Mundia, took lead on this project at OC Vibe and worked closely with the team at AMS to achieve the meticulous design from the start. “The effort we put in was consistent throughout the process on both ends, and it shows in the final product,” says Jeff as he reflects on his proud moments of this project.

Design Considerations

The OC Vibe parking garage utilized Longboard’s Link & Lock product in 4” and 6” battens across the entire structure. Over 50,000 linear feet of extruded aluminum to bring texture, color, and overall safety to the façade. With numerous revisions in shop drawings to ensure the design intent was met, the design itself faced a few demands and challenges throughout the process to ensure everything was just right. 

One critical consideration was allowing for movement within the slats. Because the structure is a parking garage, the concrete slabs shift slightly as vehicles enter and exit. “To accommodate this, a specialized bracket system was required. Longboard had already developed a solution, and this project marked one of its first deployments,” says Jeff. The system incorporates both a fixed bracket and a sliding bracket, giving the battens a stable yet flexible base that allows for movement.

AMS had a clear vision for the Longboard’s battens to extend an additional five feet below the cantilever, “something Longboard typically does not recommend, as the standard maximum is three feet. Through collaboration between Longboard and AMS and careful thought and consideration, the design was revised to allow for a four-foot extension,” Jeff explains.

Another consideration was the weight of the logo that hangs across the battens, welcoming visitors to the OC Vibe parking structure. Jeff shares, “the letter O alone, was about 400 pounds.” With this in mind, the product needed to be sturdy to be installed to the structure, hold the weight, allow the battens to extend beyond the cantilever, and have flexibility with the movement of the concrete slabs. With a lot of conversation, redrawing, and testing, these were all challenges that AMS and Longboard were able to resolve.

The Unique Finishes

What makes this project visually unique are the color profiles of each batten and the detailed patterning of color over the structure. At Longboard, it’s not common to see this kind of variation in finishes across the over 1,000 battens. AMS selected all six finishes during the process using Longboard’s custom color option.

To ensure the design intent was carried through to installation, Jeff individually labelled each batten. He worked closely with the AMS team to align labeling with their naming conventions, creating a seamless process for installation. Fortunately, the installer on this project, Bomel, was also specific with the details and drawings, and was able to ensure the effort by AMS and Longboard to get these finishes perfect in an exact pattern was not lost during installation.

Thankfully, the team at AMS is as meticulous with their attention to detail as the team at Longboard is. It was a lengthy process of creating something as in-depth as this was, but to see the final product finished makes it all worth it.