Part of:

People:

Eisenman/Robertson Architects (creator)
Eisenman/Robertson Architects (architectural firm)
Peter Eisenman (archive creator)

Title:

University Art Museum

Date:

1986-1988

Level of archival description:
File 65

Extent and medium:

Approximately 686 drawings including reprographic copies
24 negatives
17 models
0.2 l.m. of textual records

Scope and content:
File documents the unexecuted project for the University Art Museum, Long Beach, California. Material in this file was produced between 1986 and 1988.

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), commissioned Eisenman/Robertson Architects to design an art museum adjacent to the main campus entrance. The 67,500-square-foot building was to comprise four galleries, a black-box theater, an auditorium, a cafe, conference rooms, a library, offices, preparation spaces, and storage vaults. The project, sited on a 23-acre arboretum, included landscaping; terraced sculpture courtyards, botanical gardens, and a two-acre pond. Eisenman linked the northern and southern parts of the arboretum by an elevated public walkway through the museum.

Sets of drawings were presented on 8 and 30 April, 2 June, and 5 Aug. In the first design phase Eisenman explores the cartographic figures which form the basis of his artificial excavation when superposed: a series of sketches establishes the analogical relationships which fix the relative scales of the plans and produce the superpositions; another series contextualizes the superposed figures by placing them within the museum site (DR1987:0859:087-090). The second phase concerns the building; the working model shows the building carved out of a square pit, from which spring an oil derrick and a reconstruction of a recreational pier (Rainbow Pier, 1920s) used here as circulatory bridge (DR1987:0859:160). In the third phase the architect systematizes his archeological procedure by using five significant cartographic dates - 1849, 1889, 1949, 1989, 2049 - each corresponding to a specific superposition (see DR1987:0859:274-277). In the fourth phase, Eisenman simplifies the superposition of 2049 to a few iconic colour-coded forms: ranch (green), ranch house (blue), campus site (red), and water forms (river and pond) (gold). Material for the fourth phase includes three relief models, four presentation drawings, and a model (property of the CSULB) (relief models: DR1987:0859:001-003; drawings: DR1987:0859:004-008). Eisenman "inhabits" his artifical archeology by detailed planning of interior spaces, and gives substance to the cartographic traces in a series of sketch sections, perspectives, and working models. Working models reveal how the central "canal" area gradually became the museum's access point (DR1987:0859:484-490); the museum, galleries, offices, and preparation areas are on one side of this deep cut, while the cafeteria and black-box theater are on the other. The upper level was to house offices, meeting rooms, and the library.

File contains audiovisual material, conceptual drawings, design development drawings, presentation drawings, reference drawings, working drawings, photographic materials, and textual records.

Reference number:

AP143.S4.D65

Location:

Long Beach California United States

Language of material:

Documents are in English.