Architect has NFL in her sights

A small Newport Beach architecture practice has merged with a larger national firm, a move that could pave the way for major sports contracts ? including a possible bid toward a National Football League stadium.

Architect Roberta Jorgensen, whose projects include a seismic retrofit at UC Irvine, the renovation of Corona del Mar State Beach and the Children’s Center at Golden West College, has joined forces with Michigan-based Rossetti Architects to form Rossetti/Jorgensen.

Rossetti, which also has an office in El Segundo, designed the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Detroit Pistons of the NBA, and Ford Field, the stadium of the Detroit Lions and site of the 2006 Super Bowl. It is also the lead architect on the $63-million UCI student center.

Jorgensen will continue to operate her 14-person office in Cannery Village on Balboa Island. The Newport practice will become the Orange County office of Rossetti/Jorgensen, which will have about 100 employees.

“We can reach much farther out geographically and expand into a much broader area to do architecture and planning,” Jorgensen said of the merger, which was completed April 1.

Carl Meyer, Rossetti’s principal and manager for California, said his firm is developing a training facility for the Los Angeles Clippers. The merger with Jorgensen further positions his group to tackle large sports projects in Southern California.

Jorgensen has done work for the University of California and Cal State systems, opening the way for Rossetti to move into collegiate athletics and university work.

There’s even talk of bidding for stadium work if the NFL decides to bring a new team to Los Angeles or Anaheim, Meyer said.

“We would hope to be part of the team to build wherever the stadium is going to be,” Meyer said.

For her part, Jorgensen gets to tap into a larger network of resources and land larger contracts, she said. Many firms are beginning to use virtual reality design software that can be costly for a small firm like Jorgensen’s.

The merger could propel Jorgensen to the next level of design, said Sushila Ghataode of the Orange County office of the American Institute of Architects. Large developers often look to large architecture practices, and the merger should open up new opportunities for Jorgensen, Ghataode said.