University of California Los Angeles - Bruin Life / Southern Campus Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

Page 30 text:

[Tlir Library stands In llif West of tin Mam (Juadtamil, m ma uv, huiuly.} Ht chitcctural Inspiration of Wcstwood HE IXTf:RIOR of the Li- brary Building recalls in its de- sign the exterior facade. The medium of construction has made possible a free use of rich and decorative motifs con- trasted against plain back- grounds, combining the Italian Romanesque with the more colorful and free style found in XV and XVI century cathedral cities of Spain. CI. The ceilings, constructed of antique wood, had their inspiration in the ancient town halls and churches of Granada and Toledo, where the influence of the Moorish invasion left such a mark on the art and decoration of Spain in that period. This lofty and massive timbered ceiling, extending over two hundred feet in length, has been enriched with pattern and harmonious color inspired by the Spanish Romanesque. The cen- tral dome, inspired by one at the San Ambrogio at Milan, is ornamented by forty printers ' marks of the XV and XVI centuries, among which are to be found those of such great Renaissance printers as the Giunta Family, Simon V ostre, Petit, Aldus, Caxton, and Gutenburg. These marks, with the twelve fruits of knowledge and the five interlaced circles of perfect truth, are worked into the symbolic design of the Tree of Life. The church of St. Sepolcro and the Court of Pilate have without doubt served as inspira- tion for the octagonal dome in the Delivery Room, as well as for the wall textures in this and the Chemistry and Education Buildings. a. Symbolizing the spirit of this structure is a design in the spandrel above the front entrance, depicting the Gods of Light and Learning pay- ing reverence to the Owl of Wisdom, which typifies the recorded knowledge of books, and from which radiate, in the outer arch, all the various fields of human discovery and science. a. The owl motif is again utilized in the newel post at the foot of the stairway, and a more modern touch, the forepart of a bear, is found in a running band basing one of the columns in the foyer. Bestial band designs of an ancient day, probably of pre-Renaissance work of Italy and Spain, form a particularly interesting part of the front facade, while the later type of Moor- ish pattern, which religiously excludes all living objects, is wrought in brick-work. ? ; -»i.« :t tei? s . g [20]

Page 29 text:

[ ' I ' xJay. l ir I iir ily ini i hnw ii;-ll ihr buiUliiuji fil inhi tli, of thr land.uat r. ' ] Architectural Inspiration of T5(7estwoocl HAT THE traditional farh Califoniian and Spanish Col- onial style of architecture would be adopted for the general de- sign of construction might be tlie primitive supposition, but it was deemed more represen- tati e of the esthetic element involved to search out a heritage of greater power from the past. A dignified, yet colorful, style was taken as the keynote of construction — that of Northern Italy. The buildings already completed are proof in themselves of the facility with which the style lends itself to beauty of texture and color in brick and terra cotta work, colorful tile roofs, and richness of ornamental detail in entrances and window motifs, in lofty towers and domes. (n. This use of brick is particularly representa- t! e in that it was, during the middle ages, ex- tended to religious buildings and to monumental work of various kinds, and its use on this cam- pus is also in the way of a monumental struc- ture, to create an enduring edifice for the pro- mulgation of all fields of education. Here also, in such manner, is found employed brickwork in walls, aults, and walks. CI, The buildings are constructed in an adaptation of the Lombar- dian type of Italian Romanesque style, and more- over embody many aspects of the Byzantine. This style was evolved at Bologna, a fact of spe- cial significance, since the university at that city was one of the earliest and greatest, housing for pupils such men as Dante and Petrarch ; its use here typifies a union between the scholars of yes- terday and the novices of today. Since Ro- manesque architecture marked the first great European awakening after the Dark Ages, it was the fore-runner of the Renaissance and of the birth of tlie modern spirit. Its adoption marked the period of conception of universities; hence its use on the new campus in marking the con- tinuance of a great tradition. CI, The use of terra cotta and quarry tiles as an instrument of design are most apparent in the Library Build- ing; here it is that color speaks most seductively to the beholder. It is with a soft voice, however, made resonant and rich with a subtle harmony of hues in mosaic patterns and terra cotta, the geometric designs indicative of the religious pas- sion following the Moorish invasion of Spain. i1 I mmm mm. [19]

Page 31 text:

[St. Slefano (li ' ft) was the inspiral ' wn for many of ihr desiijns of Royir, v:lnlc San Zi-no-ve ((en- ter) and till- Court of Pilule (riylit) arc reminiscent of the Library. ' ] architectural Inspiration of Wcstwood HF DESK N of Royce Hall especially niay be traced to examples of past art. Its de- sign is reminiscent of the Church of San Ambrogio in Milan, excepting, however, that its two towers are of equal proportion if not of similar design. An almost complete symposium of the Romanesque- Italian Gothic school of architecture utilized here may be traced to the Cathedral of SS. Pietro e Paolo, built in the IV century, in the Church of II Santissimo Crocifisso, and particularly in the interior of St. Sepolcro, in Church of St. Stefano. The similarity is most strong in the arcade of the upper ambulatories, in the lack of unity of the two towers, in the multi-pillared columns of the colonnade, and in the treatment of the facade. Q. On the beamed ceiling of the foyer are designs in red and gold portraying the shields of the twelve earliest foreign universities, including Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, Prague, and Heidelberg. The principle feature of Royce Hall consists of two triple-vaulted open loggias, super imposed. For the ceiling of the three lower vaults a design has been utilized which symbolizes the twelve branches of learn- ing, including the graphic arts, education, philos- ophy, chemistry, and languages, each subject per- sonified by a half-figure, below which is inscribed the name of a great man of the past who was remembered in connection with that subject, the richness of color and design reminding one of the painted vaults in the lower church at Assisi. CI. The ceilings of the upper three vaults have been painted to portray the three periods of that movement, and that by representing four great leaders from each period. In the first are Jesus Christ, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; in the sec- ond, Petrarch, Abelard, Melanchthon, and Loy- ola; in the third, Kant, Darwin, Einstein, and Eliot. These murals, below each of which an inscription is painted, recall the glowing mo- saics of Ravenna. Q. A modern essence among the ancient is brought by the depiction of a bear ' s head in a medallion in the spandrel above the main entrance, symbolic of the bond between past knowledge and present learning. Motifs in running design and relief panels on the colonnade arches are of Spanish and Saracen origin.