Found on the Net: Giant Rabbits at Newport Beach

 

 

 

Those who visited the Newport Beach Civic Center were all curious about the giant rabbits in the landscape.   What are these rabbits for?  Why giant rabbits?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the City of Newport Beach, CA website:

About those Civic Center Park Rabbits...

The 16 rabbit sculptures in the Civic Center Park have passed their six-month birthdays and we continue to answer questions about them. The most frequently asked questions include - "Why are they there?" and "Why rabbits?"  We've also been asked - "What did they cost?" and  "Are they art?"   The Civic Center "rabbit story" is this -

They are not intended to be art. They are a feature for kids. The landscape architect for the Civic Center Park, Peter Walker Partners (PWP - the same firm doing the 9/11 Memorial Park in Lower Manhattan) wanted to place unique children's elements in the park. To PWP, a traditional tot lot with manufactured play equipment just wasn’t the right fit for this site. There's room to roam here and the landscape architects didn't see a need for a specific play area. They want visitors of all ages to explore the different features throughout the park's approximately 14 acres.

The project budget included $225,000 for adding fun, play elements that would appeal to children. (A standard tot lot costs about $250,000 and up.) PWP looked at various climb-able sculpture concepts based on wildlife (giant sea turtles, spider webs, and more) and even one of Patrick Dougherty's willow sculptures (his sculptures are alive after planting and stay alive for some time). The costs ran too high for some of these ideas, while durability and lifespan were in question for others.

So how did we end up with rabbits? As the project team considered the wildlife sculptures, all agreed that the design should be based on something actually found in Newport Beach (unlike giant sea turtles). Desert Cotton Tails are the real, live bunnies that are native to this area and a number of them consider the park site home. So, rabbits became a sculpture option. About that same time, PWP held an office reception and someone brought in real rabbits to help entertain the young children. As Peter Walker tells the story, the bunnies were a hit not just with the young kids, but with the older kids and the adults all evening. People were just drawn to them. Soon after, PWP decided rabbit sculptures would be the right fit for the Civic Center Park.

So why are they gigantic? While the rabbits have an element of reality (going back to the idea that Desert Cotton Tails are native to this area), PWP also wanted them to be whimsical… to have an element of surprise and encourage imagination. They wanted something that would draw kids and grownups into the park and then from one area of the park to another. They even thought – and it’s turned out to be true – that drivers might pull off of MacArthur or Avocado to see what those gigantic rabbits are all about.

The rabbits do command attention and their large size also makes them awfully fun for kids. They are practically indestructible (the rabbits) and it seems that children can’t help but climb on them and they often pose with them for pictures. (By the way, we’ve noticed quite a few adults having their pictures taken with the rabbits too.)

So what did the rabbits cost? The final price for grading, placement, manufacturing, design, painting, and graffiti-protection was just over $221,000, or about $13,800 per rabbit. After watching a steady stream of kids (and parents) interact with the rabbits over the last six months, we know PWP got it right. Those quirky, huge bunnies have drawn more people to the park and been at the center of more fun and imagination than a solitary tot lot ever could.

Another question we were recently asked, "Can someone buy one for their own yard?"