By Isabel Fernald
Silvia Perea, architect & Curator of the Architecture & Design Collection at UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Barbara’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum is celebrating 60 years of its Architecture and Design Collection. Silvia Perea, the curator of the collection, recently walked guests through a behind-the-scenes tour of some of the hundreds of archives. In celebration of the collection, Perea also introduced visitors to an eclectic exhibition, Genius Loci: Domesticity and Identity in Southern California, which will be up until May 7.
The exhibition, which opened on Feb. 25th, calls attention to the creative ways in which architects have responded to the unique conditions of Southern California’s environment during the 20th century. From desert areas and beachside properties to hillsides and even underground homes, the show allows visitors to explore the past by peeking inside these innovative spaces that were ahead of their time.
“The title, Genius Loci, comes from Latin, and it means the spirit of the place. It really refers to the capacity of these houses to shape or forge a very distinct identity and a very distinct way of life,” said Perea.
John Hertz Fallout Shelter, Woodland Hills 1957
A look into a house built as an innovative bomb shelter. During the period after WWII, concerns about nuclear attacks grew. Architects and homeowners alike developed an interest in living spaces that served as shelters. Los Angeles-based architect Paul László proposed an underground habitat capable of resisting atomic bomb detonations. László named the prototype ‘Atomsville,’ a forward-looking urban space aimed to bring up the country’s general living standards in the Atomic Age. By the time of the shelter's completion, the fear of nuclear attacks was viewed as irrational. Despite its loss of purpose, the property was donated and became an elementary school.
Paul László, section plan, bomb shelter for Mr. and Mrs. Hertz, Architecture and Design Collection (ADC), UC Santa Barbara
Case Study House No. 17, Beverly Hills 1962-1975
Celebrated architect and interior designer, John Elgin Woolf, is known as the father of the Hollywood Regency style. Completed in 1956, Case Study House No. 17 will go down in history as one of the more scandalous renovations. While the original house had a strong mid-century modern design, Woolf transformed it into a Roman villa with a Hollywood Regency street facade. Bedrooms were enlarged, courtyards enclosed, and a colonnade was built along the swimming pool. Traditional architectural principles at the time were completely disregarded, yet it was extremely successful and sought-after.
Case Study House No. 17. Remodeled by John E. Woolf, 1962. ADC, UC Santa Barbara
Tree House, Hollywood Hills 1975
Set high on the crest of an impossibly steep hillside overlooking the Hollywood Hills, a real-deal tree house was built by Bernard Judge. Completed in 1975, the two-story house was designed with a deep respect for nature and ecology. The house minimally disturbs the land, as it rests on four steel columns planted vertically into the hillside. “The architect was already thinking of sustainable terms that are more common today,” Perea said. The iconic tree house still stands today and serves as an example of sustainable architecture.
Bernard Judge’s Treehouse prototype & blueprints, ADC, UC Santa Barbara
Lovell Beach House, Newport Beach 1926
This is a beach house that was a product of the radical ideas of both its architect and its owner. Born in Vienna in 1887, architect Rudolph Schindler came to Southern California to work for the client, Phillip Lovell. Lovell was known as a guru of healthy living and he put into practice progressive ideas about the human connection to nature. This directly translated into the design as the house was built on a box structure that elevates it far off ground level. The concept was to feel as if you were isolated from the world, with no visual connection to the street and an unobstructed view of the sea’s horizon. “The property still sits on Newport Beach and is regarded as one of the earliest examples of modern architecture in Southern California,” Perea said.
The Lovell Beach House, 1922, R. M. Schindler Papers, ADC, UC Santa Barbara
The Genius Loci exhibition celebrates the creativity and adaptability of architects to physical surroundings. The structures remind us that architecture is not just about building spaces but shaping the spirit of the place.
“The important thing about these houses is their peculiar engagement with each of these ecologies or environments. Architects are defining specific ways of life that are unreplicated anywhere else,” Perea said.
Isabel Fernald is a third-year Communication major at UC Santa Barbara. She wrote this article for her Writing Program course, Digital Journalism.