Designed by locally and nationally renowned architect William Pereira, who was also responsible for Irvine’s famed Master Plan, the University of Irvine campus was created with practical consideration for proximity – academic buildings and student residences at a maximum 10-minute walking distance from one another – and significant use of modern construction techniques: poured concrete, often curving and paired with glass, in the Brutalist style. Created in the 1960s, UCI buildings served for decades as “futuristic” backdrops for movies including Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Poltergeist, and Ocean’s Eleven, just like Pereira’s later pyramid-like Laguna Niguel project, The Ziggurat. Post-Pereira buildings include the distinctively Frank Gehry-styled Rockwell Engineering Center and Arthur Erickson’s distinctive aqua- and silver McGaugh Hall, each ahead of its time, plus many others. Art galleries, notably including the Beall Center for Art + Technology, host thought-provoking and well-curated exhibitions of student work.
Parking at UCI is almost always paid, rather than free, and notoriously challenging when classes are in session. While the school can be approached from adjacent plazas (such as the University Town Center area with Blue Bowl, In-n-Out, and Trader Joe’s), the roughly 1,500-acre campus benefits from at least partial exploration by car or bike, as many of its buildings are spread out and adjacent to parks and greenbelts.
