Dome - shape of things to come?

Chatsworth design firm shifts from a mall's food court to biosphere project

While Arizona's "Biosphere II" environmental experiment made national headlines again this fall when its eight inhabitants emerged from the massive domed habitat after their two-year stint, few Angelenos realize that something of a "precursor" enclosure -- conceived and crafted by the Chatsworth-based designer of Biosphere II's outer shell -- graces one of L.A.'s own regional malls.

Specifically, the "space frame" fashioned by Pearce Systems International Inc. -- founded a decade ago by futuristic enclosure-system guru Peter Jon Pearce -- makes something of a high-tech "wintergarden" of the 74,000-square-foot food court highlighting Fallbrook Square Mall's made-over main entrance, Pearce explains.

Pearce notes that the patented structural technology he incorporated into the food court's glass-and-steel enclosure -- as well as several other pre- and post-Biosphere local projects -- uses the "natural strength of the only intrinsically stable geometric shape: triangles."

The cerebral, white-haired Pearse has devoted much of his academic and entrepreneurial career to the study of naturally sturdy, continuously repeating geometric structures, such as those found in snowflakes, honeycombs and leaf "skeletons."

Pearse, who studied with famed "geodesic dome" devotee Buckminster Fuller during the 1960s -- he refers to his late colleague as "Bucky" -- founded Pearse Systems' predecessor firm a decade ago in part because he "couldn't find a job," he quips semi-seriously.

His entrepreneurial endeavor also reflects his dismay that "state-of-the-art" innovations from the architecture and construction disciplines "are not 'performance-driven' as they should be," Pearse says. "If the building community designed an airplane, it wouldn't fly."

Hence, Pearse has struggled through much of the past decade, creating "high-performance" construction systems based on his accumulated knowledge of natural geometric forms -- with the help of sophisticated computer programs developed during the last generation.

His building systems are aimed at translating the "infinitely repeating" element of natural structures into highly flexible, modular enclosure systems using prefabricated parts that can be shipped from his Chatsworth factory and assembled virtually anywhere. He refers to this approach as a "minimum inventory-maximum diversity" system.

While Pearse hasn't driven the road from theory to real-world application without some financial detours, Pearse Systems can boast some significant successes. Along with various projects completed from New York to Hong Kong, Pearse Systems' works can be seen locally at such prominent sites as the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in Valencia, the Ronald Reagan state office building, Figueroa Plaza and Seventh Street Marketplace in downtown L.A. and -- most recently -- the space-frame dome at the new Universal City Walk festival retail complex in Universal City.

But Pearse notes that the new Fallbrook food court in West Hills -- the addition was completed in 1986 -- represents the best local example of the technology behind Biosphere II's "impermeable" dome structure. It was the first time his firm was hired to design and install an enclosure's frame system, and to attach and seal the corresponding glass panels as well, he adds.

The mall had been struggling as an open-air center before new owners decided to install a skylight-oriented roof, and to incorporate a new food court just inside a revamped main entrance, Pearse recalls. Working with co-owner General Growth Cos. and renovation architects Charles Kober Associates, the Pearse team designed a glass-and-steel enclosure system incorporating Pearse's patented approach.

The food court's "roof" is essentially a space frame featuring a pair of parallel "planes." A repeating pattern of white steel triangles -- fashioned from tubular "struts" -- comprises each of the planes. The exterior plane's triangles are fitted with glass.

Other struts connect the two planes through Pearse's "multi-hinge connection system," which also uses the natural geometric strength of triangles in eliminating the need for any central connecting "nodes," Pearse explains.

The result is a "very large space with a high ceiling and an abundance of glass that requires very few (vertical support) columns," Pearse notes. "It's something of a botanical garden with all the natural light; it's a very friendly, open environment to eat in."

As is the case with most Pearse projects, the framework struts were fashioned from 5.5-foot-long, 2.5-inch-diameter steel tubes. Prefabricated "subsections" of the space frame were pieced together at the nearby Pearse factory and shipped to the mall. Then entire sections of the food court's space frame -- some as large as 40 feet square -- were assembled at the construction site, lifted with cranes and set in place. Finally, technicians installed the glass panels, permanently attaching them to the steel frame with a water-tight neoprene seal.

The mall's enhancement has apparently received rave reviews from shoppers.

"The food court has been one of most successful areas in the mall" since the renovation, "it has always drawn a strong lunch crowd," says Christine Silvestri, Fallbrook's marketing director. "I think the design is a key to its success. It's a bright, cheery environment filled with natural light; it really enhances our main entrance," she adds.

On a recent Sunday, the food court's tables were packed at midday. Despite the generally gloomy weather, an ample supply of natural light filtering through the glass-paneled space frame made the network of spot-lights attached to the space frame's struts seem unnecessary.

"I think the food court project shows that you can adapt a (space-frame) system with its unique character to an existing structure and be quite successful," adds local architect Steve Diskin, who also designs modular building systems and has followed Pearse's work with much interest. "If you like simplicity, it's there. But it's the wonderful simplicity you find in nature," Diskin adds.

While Pearse notes that the Fallbrook food court has been a financial success for the mall's owners, he is quick to concede that his subsequent distraction with the Biosphere II mega-project helped create some hardships for Pearse Systems.

As the entire Pearse team was consumed by the high-profile Biosphere II project, "we just didn't pay enough attention to the future pipeline" and the firm's revenues dropped drastically once the Arizona dome was completed, the founder explains.

Pearse's firm was reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy in 1992 after losing $467,000 in 1990 and $1 million the following year.

But with the help of Chatsworth-based Trilogy Capital Group Inc., which restructured Pearse's finances, the firm's once-shaky financial picture appears to have been stabilized. Former creditors owed more than $10,000 have taken equity in the company, and the firm has secured a $2 million line of credit with Century Bank of Beverly Hills, according to a recent Los Angeles Times report.

Noting that a planned $4 million public stock offering is currently under Securities and Exchange Commission review, Pearse says he's been instructed not to comment on the firm's finances during the pre-IPO "quite period."

In the future, says Pearse, he's hoping to pursue "prefabricated" modular spaceframe projects for arenas, gas stations, schools, office buildings, perhaps even residential developments.

Diskin thinks Pearse will generate a lot of discussion as he continues to develop his modular building-system technology. "I think his work represents the future of 'shelter technology,'" Diskin says. "It offers enormous potential; that's why he's been able to keep his business going."