Knockdown: UC Irvine makes history - by demolishing Gehry building

Press-Democrat 2/1/07

In 1986, UC Irvine was a campus striving for an identity, space - and funds. So, university administrators asked Southern California architect Frank Gehry, already well-known regionally, to design a cheap, functional engineering research building.

Gehry did what was asked, and then some. Using a hodgepodge of materials, including stucco, galvanized metal and chain link, the architect added a postmodern twist to a campus whose architecture was stuck in the 1960s.

Fast forward 20 years. UC Irvine is a nationally recognized school focused on the sciences and Gehry is now internationally known for designs that include the metal-clad Guggenheim Museum in Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

But last weekend, Gehry's fame took a back seat to the campus' need to grow. His building, and another designed by Rebecca Binder, were demolished to make way for a six-story engineering tower.

Administrators argue that the two buildings were designed to be temporary and that, in this case, function should trump form. Maybe so. But someday, the university may regret destroying a structure by an architect who has redefined the way people think about buildings.