Browse Exhibits (6 total)
Render Unto God
Focusing on the design of religious structures this exhibition explores the connections between religious institutions and residences, social spaces, and the challendges of designing for religious purposes. Themes of community, ethnicity, innovation and tradition are highlighted with holdings for the Environmental Design Archvies, Visual Resource Center, and Environmental Design Library collections, such as rare books, original sketches, and photographs.
All Their Own
Designing for Themselves and Each Other
Although a designer’s first projects are often for family members, they inevitably will design a place of their own during the course of their career. These include gardens, residences, vacation homes, remodels, and design-build projects. Designers also design for each other. This exhibition showcases projects by architects and landscape architects for themselves and for their colleagues.
Environmental Design/A New Modernism
50th Anniversary of the College of Environmental Design, 1959-2009
The College of Environmental Design (CED) was conceived of in the 1950s and formally established in 1959. To differentiate their ideas from Modernist dogma, the founders William Wurster, Catherine Bauer Wurster, Jack Kent, and their Bay Area colleagues dubbed their vision “Environmental Design,” or what we might call a “New Modernism.” The CED was unique not only because it was one of the earliest colleges to combine architecture, city planning, landscape architecture, and the decorative arts, but also because it emphasized the important role of the social, natural, and physical sciences in informing teaching, practice, and research. Wurster Hall, completed in 1964, has become the emblem of the founders’ vision where, in 2009, it continues to emerge anew.
The exhibit focuses on seminal moments from 1959 to 2009 in the evolution of the CED founders' vision, whereby teaching, research, and practice were informed by the social and natural sciences and which, in recent decades, has significantly come to include the computer sciences. It features images of drawings, photographs, and documents drawn from the Environmental Design Archives, the Environmental Design Library, the Bancroft Library, the University Archives, IURD and CEDR, and private collections.
Remembering Earl Nisbet
Earl Nisbet (1926-2013) was a California architect who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin in the early 1950s, returning to California in 1953 to pursue his own architectural career. This was a decade filled with creative and innovative projects for Nisbet, including Cabaña Tanglewood, the Falconer House, and the Doo House. The influence of Wright’s teachings can be seen throughout each of these projects, and continued to be a source of inspiration throughout his career.
Julia Morgan: Hidden Engineer
The Designs of Julia Morgan
Julia Morgan was a pioneer throughout her professional life. The first woman to enter and complete an education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she later designed Hearst Castle, and left more than 700 buildings throughout California and the West. Among other reasons, she is notable for having designed so many women-commissioned projects. This exhibit is mounted in conjunction with the Landmarks California Commission's Julia Morgan 2012 celebration, and re-examines some of Julia Morgan's most influential designs, using material from the Environmental Design Archives, Visual Resources Collection, and Environmental Design Library.
Seasons Greetings
The development of three-dimensional creative thinking is rooted in the exploration of the two-dimensional visual arts. Designers don’t limit their creativity to buildings, landscapes and furniture. They often express their creativity through the foundational skills they developed early on in their design education: drawing, painting, photography, and graphic design. Though you may not have known, you should not be surprised to learn that many architects and landscape architects design their own stationery and personal greeting cards. Season’s Greetings showcases both personal and professional holiday greeting cards created by architects, landscape architects, and their firms.