Fire Bird – 1986 – Orange County Center for the Performing Arts, Costa Mesa (CA)

Commissioned by Henry Segerstrom for the new Orange County Performing Arts Center that he generously donated to the city of Costa Mesa. Fire Bird is a major architectural sculpture of enormous scale created by Richard Lippold.

Made of red, silver aluminum tubing and gold leaf, Fire Bird’s vibrant colors relate to the warm tonalities of The Center’s Napoleon red granite exterior, while its polished metal surfaces contrast with the granite’s rugged texture. The great glass wall that encloses the lobby areas permits a visual continuity between the inside and outside of the building, while the balconies on each level allow patrons to experience the sculpture at close proximity.

Lippold’s Fire Bird is really about the colors and rhythms of music and how they relate to the asymmetric architecture of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

C. R. S. Sirrine, architects.