Campus Drive Pedestrian Bridge UCI

You can cross Campus Drive by walking over the pedestrian bridge to the University Center owned and operated by the Irvine Company. In the center of shopping center is the office tower seen in the background of this photo. Other business in the shopping center include several restaurants, movie theaters, Trader Joe's, and several clothing boutiques catering to the student population.

Student Services 2 at UC Irvine

Student Services II is actually a building that appears as a collection of cube-shaped buildings joined together at different angles. The exteriors of these post-modernist cubes is primarily concrete, but unlike its earlier counterparts designed under the Brutalist school such as the Langson Library and Social Science Tower, these buildings have completely flat exteriors and the addition of some color, and some design elements in the surface concrete itself.

Social Sciences Tower UC Irvine

Another of the buildings built in the 1960s at UCI is the Social Science Tower. Another example of Brutalism, the building from the ends is an imposing unadorned monolith, but from its sides as you can see from this photo, you can capture a cascading collection of intersecting lines and shadows created by the window framing that creates a Lego-like effect.

Jack Langson Librarary UCI #3

Although architecturally characterized as being of "Brutalist" style, the strong vertical lines of the Jack Langson Library are broken by a curved concrete vignette which gives the impression of pleated fabric.

This photo focuses on these gracefully curved vignettes on the sides of the building. This feature breaks the strong linear lines of the building that run from this point to the roof. Something about this feature has an Art Deco flavor to it in my mind, although the building is an example of Brutalism.

Jack Langson Librarary UCI #2

The strong vertical lines of the Jack Langson Library are broken by a curved concrete vignette which gives the impression of pleated fabric.

The architect, William Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was from Chicago, of Portuguese ancestry. He was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Remarkably prolific, he worked out of Los Angeles, and was known for his love of science fiction and expensive cars, but mostly for his unmistakable style of architecture, which came to define the look of mid-20th century America.

Jack Langson Librarary UCI #1

The Jack Langson Library at UC Irvine is one of the eight original buildings on the campus, designed by architect William Pereira in 1965. The Langson Library contains the collections and services that support research and teaching in the Arts, Humanities, Education, Social Sciences, Social Ecology, and Business & Management. The exterior of the building features strong linear vertical lines and its architecture is classified as belonging to the "Brutalist" style. “Brutalism” comes from the French phrase “béton brut,” meaning “raw concrete.” Buildings in the Brutalist style were often characterized by an unfriendly appearance. Most Brutalist buildings did not have many doors or windows