Overview

During the late 1970s and 1980s, the University of California, Irvine, (UCI) commissioned a variety of star architects to design buildings for its campus. This process of building high-profile buildings was begun in the 1980s by campus architect David J. Neuman, who invited such architects as Arthur Erickson, Eric Owen Moss, and others to work on campus. Neuman left UCI in 1989, to work at Stanford University, where he remained until 10/2003. Neuman then became Architect for the University & Chief Planning Officer at the University of Virginia between 11/2003 and 10/2014. While this Science Library was completed after Neuman's exit, it followed the university continued to attract world-class architectural talent to work here.

Building History

The English firm James Stirling Michael Wilford and Associates designed the $25.2-million Science Library for the University of California, Irvine (UCI) campus during 1992, and supervised construction during the 1993 and 1994.

The construction team consisted of James Stirling Michael Wilford and Associates, architects; IB/L Paul Zajfen, associated architects; Ove Arup and Partners, structural engineers; Ove Arup and Partners, mechanical and electrical engineers; Adamson Associates, cost consultant; Burton and Spitz, landscape architects.

Employees working on the UC Irvine Science Library for Stirling Wilford inlcuded Chris Chong. Felim Dunne, Ellis O'connell, Richard Portchmouth, Peter Ray and Mike Russum.

Building Notes

The building had the following proportions: General reading room and stacks, 3,680 square meters (2000 spaces); reading areas, 3,300 square meters (1,625 spaces); Study rooms, 500 rooms; reference and periodical spaces, 1,700 square meters; technical services spaces, 1,250 square meters; public services spaces, 520 square meters; learning resources spaces, 420 square meters; learning resources spaces, 420 square meters; computer spaces, 110 square meters; ancillary, support and circulation zones, 4,080 square meters; (See Library Builders, [London: Academy Editions, 1997], p. 224.)

PCAD id: 24849