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Photo by Reed Hutchinson UCLA Photographic Services Campus Architect Jeffrey Averill is overseeing a building boom that is bringing to campus the work of internationally known architects.

The Latest Construction Boom

A 'sense of place' from the old and new

by Cynthia Lee
ucla today staff

There’s a running joke on campus that what UCLA actually stands for is “Under Construction in Los Angeles.”

If ever this little play on words should be taken seriously, it’s today, when nearly $2 billion worth of campus construction is either under way or has just wrapped up, according to Capital Programs administrators. In fact, by the end of 2005, campus builders estimate that roughly half the campus buildings that existed in the mid-1980s will have been renovated to some degree.

Courtesy of UCLA Capital Programs Westwood Replacement Hospital, designed by I.M. Pei and Pei Partnership Architects

All quadrants of the campus seem to be buzzing with building activity, from the south campus, where the largest building project in UC history, the hospital that will become the Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center, is now up, to the northwest campus, where three new buildings will add approximately 2,000 beds to the student community on the Hill.

If you want to feel the intensity of this building boom, just take a stroll through the Court of Sciences and you will see five buildings in various stages of gestation going up alongside or near each other.

Rendering by the Urban Simulation Team California NanoSystems Institute building, designed by Rafael Vinoly

Probably the most unusual of these buildings is the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) building, a horizontally designed structure spanning Parking Structure 9. Within a stone’s throw are two more research buildings, both part of the seismic replacement master plan for the health sciences area. Also under construction is La Kretz Hall, with a 350-seat auditorium, 45-seat classroom and seminar rooms, some of the facilities that were lost when they were removed from the Life Sciences Building.

That was done to make way for the construction of another research complex. The Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center, now under construction, will face the Court of Sciences, while another part of that complex, the other seismic replacement research building, will face Charles E. Young Drive.

Courtesy of UCLA Capital Programs Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center and a research building, designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates

“The Court of Sciences is a major hub of activity right now,” said Campus Architect Jeffrey Averill.

Much of this activity draws on the talents of major architects with well-documented star power. Luminaries include I.M. Pei, who designed the replacement hospital with his sons, Chien Chung Pei and Li Chung Pei, the principal architects of Pei Partnership Architects; Rafael Vinoly, architect of the CNSI building; Cesar Pelli, responsible for designing the research complex; and Ralph Johnson of Perkins and Will, designer of one of the research buildings that will become the home for the neurosciences.

Rendering by the Urban Simulation Team Edythe L. and Eli Broad Center, designed by Richard Meier

The north campus has its own bragging rights. There are two major building projects being completed under the signatures of stellar architects. Richard Meier, whose many renowned works include the hilltop Getty Center, is executing his design for the Edythe L. and Eli Broad Center. Nearer to the historic core of the campus, Glorya Kaufman Hall is nearly ready after a masterful renovation and expansion by Moore Ruble Yudell, the much-lauded Santa Monica firm that designed UCLA’s Law Building and led the award-winning renovation of Powell Library. Glorya Kaufman Hall will house the World Arts and Cultures Department and provide exciting, new performance spaces.

Courtesy of UCLA Capital Programs Glorya Kaufman Hall's garden theater was added to the building being renovated by Moore Ruble Yudell.

Even before this latest construction boom, the campus was already the site of buildings by architectural firms with worldwide stature, among them Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners (the Anderson School), Neutra and Alexander (Fernald School and Corinne Seeds University Elementary School), Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown (the MacDonald Medical Research Laboratories and the Gonda [Goldschmied] Center) and Ricardo Legorreta (Bradley International Hall).

All this star power combined, however, cannot overshadow the integrated sense of place reflected in UCLA’s architectural heritage.

“Cultivating star architects is not what we do,” Averill said. “What we’re really about at UCLA is creating buildings that very much fit the context of the campus. And the principal way we do this is to utilize building materials that harken back to our base iconography — UCLA’s original four buildings, particularly Royce Hall and Powell Library.”

In many cases, the iconography is reflected in something as basic as brick. Manufactured by the same company that made the original bricks for Royce and Powell in four shades of rose, these bricks capture that distinctive UCLA look. The contrasting beige is carried through in stone, terra cotta or buff-colored concrete.

Courtesy of UCLA Capital Programs Kaufman Hall's main theater, designed by Moore Ruble Yudell

One of the best examples of what architects can do with this palette of building materials is the Anderson School, Averill said. “It has a wonderful, contemporary look, yet it fits seamlessly into the campus. It enhances the campus as a whole, as an integrated place.”

Achieving an integrated look is not always easy for star architects, who want their buildings to stand out rather than blend in, said the campus architect. Averill’s job is to harmonize the sometimes-competing goals of the architect, the users of the building, Capital Programs building managers and the donors.

Architectural integration is achieved in different ways and to different degrees. Two of the most important buildings under way — the replacement hospital and the Broad Center — will not have the iconic brick facades. But UCLA’s bricks will be incorporated in the paving and the exterior plazas and courtyards around the buildings.

The Vinoly- and Pelli-designed buildings will incorporate the bricks into their exteriors. Pre-cast brick panels were recently installed into Pelli’s elegantly designed laboratory building. And Vinoly’s CNSI building — designed as a horizontal structure to foster interaction among scientists from different disciplines — will have steel towers that will be clad in brick.

“It’s a tricky balance,” Averill said. “We want architects who are great designers. We want them to do great work. We want buildings to be dynamic and interesting, but I also hope that they have some tie to the rest of the campus.”

That has been a hope shared by the UC regents, who give final approval to building projects at all the campuses.

“The regents feel it’s important that each campus reflect its own vision and sense of place. And they’ve held UCLA up as the example the others should follow,” Averill said.