Campus of the University of California, Irvine
The campus of the University of California, Irvine is known for its concentric layout with academic and service buildings arrayed around a central park, and for its Brutalist architecture.
This layout is attributable to Chancellor Aldrich and fellow university planners, who conceived UCI as concentric circles of knowledge.
Much of Aldrich Park serves as a home for large numbers of thickly wooded trees indigenous to the local Mediterranean climate, and as a whole it is landscaped meticulously.
Its geographical center hosts a garden and plaque commemorating UCI's founding, which marks the site of an unbuilt carillon tower known as the Centrum.
These smaller plazas usually serve as quieter study areas, with one (in the School of Physical Sciences), hosting Infinity Fountain, which has the shape of a Möbius strip.
Away from the central campus, UCI has a more suburban layout occupied by sprawling residential and educational complexes, some of which are on steep hills.
These are linked to the central campus with four pedestrian bridges, which access University Center, the Palo Verde housing complex, the College of Medicine, and School of the Arts.
And despite being heavily built over the past 40 years, a large portion of the outer campus remains undeveloped, with hilly grasslands and brush prevailing.
The western side of the campus borders the San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve, through which drains into the Newport Back Bay saltwater estuary.
The university has bobcats, mountain lions, hawks, golden eagles, great blue herons, peregrine falcons, rabbits, raccoons, owls, skunks, weasels, bats, and coyotes.
These buildings were designed in a unique style, combining sweeping curves and geometric shapes with elements of classic California architecture such as red tiled roofs and clay-tiled walkways.
They sit atop raised platforms that elevate them above the rolling terrain, surrounded by heavy white railings that suggest the deck of an ocean liner.
[3] The unique paneled facades were created to shade the interiors at a time when there were no significant trees on the campus, and a color palette of warm tones was chosen to offset the frequently overcast skies.
This in turn led to a "contextualist" approach beginning in the late 1990s, combining stylistic elements of the first two phases in an attempt to provide an architectural "middle ground" between the two vastly different styles.
Additionally, Langson Library hosts an extensive East Asian collection with materials in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.
[citation needed] The Barclay Theatre hosts a variety of musical and performance events in a hall noted for its acoustic design.
For instance, two recent guests hosted by the Irvine Barclay Theater were the XIV Dalai Lama and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
For intimate gatherings and conferences, the Dorothy G. Sullivan University Club available due to its full-service banquet and dining amenities.
Currently, the Cross-Cultural Center is undergoing a renovation and expansion effort that will double its size and offer more venues for the seven ethnic umbrella organizations and the numerous cultural clubs that operate under them.
A partial listing of tenants includes Broadcom, Blizzard Entertainment,[citation needed] Skyworks Solutions, Cisco, and Center for Educational Partnerships.
And recently, the Food and Drug Administration constructed a modern complex on the edge of UC Irvine's San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve.
