Sunday, March 29, 2015

Googie University

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The main library of Hope International University was once a student center for CSUF, across the street. Photo ©Darren Bradley

No architectural photo safari to Cal State Fullerton would be complete without stopping by Hope International University. This surprising collection of buildings, located directly across Nutwood Avenue from CSUF, is perhaps the largest collection of googie modernist architecture left in the world. 

Sunday, March 22, 2015

University of California, Riverside: Understated Modernism

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The classic view of UCR's Carillon Bell Tower (by Jones & Emmons, 1966) and the brutalist arcades of the Tomás Rivera Main Library (by Latta & Denny, 1954). Photo ©Darren Bradley
Despite pre-dating the larger and more glamorous UC campuses of San Diego and Irvine by 5 to 10 years, UC Riverside feels smaller, quieter, and perhaps even a bit more humble. But that's not to say that it's not worth a visit. In fact, its collection of modernist architecture is quite remarkable. 

Monday, March 16, 2015

Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places - Fullerton

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Pollak Library at CSU Fullerton. Photo ©Darren Bradley
Yes, Fullerton... I've lived in Southern California off and on for more than 30 years. But up until last year, I never considered Fullerton to be anything more than a place to drive through on my way to LA (despite apparently being distantly related to the city's namesake and founder, George Fullerton). Turns out I was dead wrong about the city. It's worth a stop. There's actually a lot of cool stuff in Fullerton, not least of which is the amazing campus of Cal State University, Fullerton

Saturday, March 14, 2015

UC Irvine: A Singular Brutalist Vision

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The university's main library, the Langson Library, was designed by William Pereira Associates, in collaboration with Jones & Emmons and Blurock Ellerbroek Associates. Note how this building like others sits on a concrete platform whose supports are meant to be in the shadows, giving the building an appearance of floating. Photo ©Darren Bradley. 
It may seem a bit incongruous - when driving through the somewhat bland Orange County suburbs of Irvine - to come across towering, brutalist concrete sculptural forms scattered amongst the trees, but that was exactly what architect William Pereira designed in his master plan for that campus in 1963.