UC San Diego's Muir College
Receives $100K Getty Foundation
Grant to Preserve Architectural Heritage
July 19, 2007
By Jan Jennings
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Photo credit: Michele Greenstein |
The University of California, San Diego’s John Muir College, one of the university’s six undergraduate colleges, has been awarded a $99,800 grant from the Getty Foundation to develop and implement a heritage preservation plan for the college’s suite of iconic, modernist buildings.
The timing of the Campus Heritage Grant coincides with the 40th anniversary of Muir College which is being celebrated in 2007-2008.
The goal of the project is to document the architectural history of Muir College, define preservation priorities and develop a plan that will help guide UC San Diego in the long term management of the college’s complex of architecturally distinctive buildings.
According to Muir College Provost Susan Smith, the pivotal force behind the project, John Muir College is “one of the oldest and most distinctive architectural ensembles on the UC San Diego campus. We are honored that the Getty Foundation has awarded us one of its Campus Heritage Grants so that we can celebrate the college’s 40th anniversary year with the creation of a formal preservation plan that will both honor its past and serve its future.”
Founded in 1967 as the second of UC San Diego’s six undergraduate colleges, Muir College, whose distinctive theme is environmental sustainability, is one of the only components remaining of architect Robert Alexander’s original master plan for the university cluster of buildings. The Muir College buildings are considered important to modernist architecture, not only in San Diego, but throughout the Southern California region. The college is an example of how a master planning process and architectural vision can be successfully implemented.
“The ensemble of academic buildings, student residences, and student services buildings designed by a team of San Diego architects (led by Robert Mosher) brilliantly exemplifies the principle of unity in college planning,” says Smith. “Exceptional in their architectural consistency, the Muir buildings reflect the ideals of modern architecture in their concrete construction, clean lines, absence of ornamentation, and structural expression.”
Of the architecture’s influence on its inhabitants, Smith notes, “Muir’s distinctive and consistent architecture, human-scaled connecting courtyards and walkways, and inward-turning orientation of the core campus are the elements that create a strong sense of place and make its students, faculty, and staff feel that they are part of a cohesive community.”
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Photo credit: Michele Greenstein |
Muir College is one of 15 recipients of Getty Campus Heritage grants awarded this year to colleges and universities across the country for architectural preservation efforts. The work supporting the Muir grant is to be completed by Sept. 30, 2008.
Since 2002, through its Campus Heritage Initiative, the Getty Foundation has awarded grants to 86 colleges and universities for preservation planning, as well as for funding surveys of hundreds of small liberal arts colleges. These grants have helped institutions of higher education understand the significance of the historic resources on their campuses and plan for their long-term preservation. The current round of grants represents the final year of the initiative.
“American colleges and universities are frequently unique repositories of some of the country’s finest historic architecture and designed landscapes,” says Deborah Marrow, director of the Getty Foundation. “While other buildings may have had a variety of owners and uses over the years, campus buildings have for the most part remained under the same stewardship, which presents wonderful opportunities for preservation and education.”
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Photo credit: Michele Greenstein |
Campus Heritage grants reflect the Getty Foundation’s emphasis on thorough planning to ensure thoughtful and successful historic preservation. “Over the past six years, we have been pleased to assist colleges and universities as they make plans to care for, maintain, and preserve their important historic resources,” says Marrow. “We look forward to learning about the results of these grants in the coming years.”
The Getty Foundation, based in Los Angeles, is part of the J. Paul Getty Trust which includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, and the Getty Conservation Institute.
For further information about UC San Diego’s Muir College go to http://colleges.ucsd.edu. For further information about the Getty Foundation go to www.getty.edu/foundation.
Media Contact: Christine Clark, (858) 534-7618 or Melissa Abraham (310) 440-7360