Urban Design

William Pereira

Done by: Eilaf Wagdy ,ID:210510045Course: Arch 344 ,Lecturer: Arshi

William Pereira

Born: William Leonard Pereira -April 25, 1909 Chicago, Illinois .

Died: November 13, 1985 (aged 76)Los Angeles, California Nationality: American

Buildings: Transamerica Pyramid, Geisel Library. Design: Concrete-shelled buildings of streamlined and expressive shapes. His material of choice in creating his unique geometric forms was pre-cast concrete. Working in thismedium, he could create his impressive facadesby simply attaching them as panels on to the steel frame of the building. Pereira had a brief stint as a Hollywood art director. He shared an Academy Award forBest Special Effects forthe action/adventure film Reap the Wild Wind (1942) In 1949, Pereira became a professor of architecture at the University of Southern California. He then formed a partnership with fellow architect and classmate, Charles Luckman, in the early 1950s. The firm, Pereira & Luckman, grew into one of the nation's busiest. The duo designed some of Los Angeles's most well-known buildings, including the famed "Theme Building" at Los Angeles International Airport . He parted with Luckman in 1959. Afterward, he formed the third and final company of his career, "William L. Pereira & Associates." In the 1960s and 1970s, he and his team completed over 250 projects

Transamerica Pyramid

Geisel Library

Theme Building

Irvine, California

Geography: Irvine borders Tustin to the north, Santa Ana to the

northwest, Lake Forest to the east, Laguna Hills onto the southeast, Costa Mesa to the west, and Newport Beach to the southwest. San Diego Creek, which flows northeast into Upper Newport Bay, is the primary watercourse draining the city.

A planned city The layout of Irvine was designed by Los Angeles

architect William Pereira and Irvine Company employee Raymond Watson,

it is nominally divided into townships called villages. The townships are separated by six-lane streets. Each township contains houses of similar design, along with commercial centers, religious institutions and schools. Commercial districts are checker-boarded in a periphery around the central townships.

Pereira originally envisioned a circular plan with numerous man-made lakes and the university in the center. When the Irvine Company refused to relinquish valuable farmland in the flat central region of the ranch for this plan, the University site was moved to the base of the southern coastal hills.

Traces of the original circular design are still visible in the layout of the UCI campus and the two man-made lakes at the center of Woodbridge, one of the central villages.

All streets have landscaping allowances. Rights-of-way for power lines also serve as bicycle corridors, parks and greenbelts to tie together ecological preserves.

The greenery is irrigated with reclaimed water. restrictive areas, houses' roofing, paint colors, and

landscaping are regulated. Older parts of the Village of Northwood that were developed

beginning in the early 1970s independently of the Irvine Company, have the distinction of being a larger village that is not under the purview of a homeowners' association.

The design that ended up being used was based on the shape of a necklace (with the

villages strung along two parallel main streets, which terminate at University of California,

Irvine (UCI), the "pendant"). Residential areas are now bordered by two commercial districts, the Irvine Business Complex to the west and

the Irvine Spectrum to the east.

UCI's core campus and surrounding areas. Aldrich Park is in the center.

The planning areas of Irvine

The University of California, Irvine Campus

Date: 1962Collection Number: AS-127

Creator: William L. Pereira and Associates

Extent: 1.6 linear feet (3 boxes) Languages: The collection is in English. Repository: University of California, Irvine. Library. Special

Collections and Archives.Irvine, California 92623-9557 Abstract: This collection comprises five project workbooks

documenting the preliminary planning of the University of California, Irvine campus by the architectural firm William L. Pereira and Associates. Pereira and Associates presented the workbooks to the University of California Regents in 1962 for final approval of the campus plan. The workbooks show the evolution of concepts for the campus's layout. They contain status reports, maps, schematic and architectural plans, and drawings.

The University of California, Irvine Campus

Historical Background In the late 1950s, Architect William Pereira was hired by the

University of California (UC) Regents to help identify a suitable site in the Southeast Los Angeles-Orange County area for the next UC campus.

The site chosen was the 93,000 acre Irvine Ranch, 1,000 acres of which were dedicated to the new campus. Pereira was hired to be the master architect of both the UC Irvine (UCI) campus and the City of Irvine.

With input from UCI Chancellor Daniel Aldrich and UC President Clark Kerr, Pereira conceived of the campus as two concentric rings around which buildings would stand, with a park at the center. This circular design would allow student residence halls to be near the academic buildings and keep the time to walk from building to building under ten minutes. Buildings were grouped together by function and academic discipline.

The library, administration, and student union were situated on the north side of campus, adjacent to the humanities and fine arts.

The science buildings were placed on the south side.