A Rhetorical Analysis Of Erasing Pereira By Alan Hess

Today the works of William Pereira are finally regaining the lost reputation and recognition. There was a time in recent decades when people were trying to erase Pereira’s work. In “Erasing Pereira”, Alan Hess gives his opinion while addressing, “What do California’s cultural institutions have against William Pereira?”. He begins his article by stating that Pereira had gained his name because of his work in the Orange County area, which later had been faded and people were misinterpreting the vision of the great architect.

Hess says that Pereira had designed UC Irvine with meticulous planning and a very revolutionary and modernized goal. He begins his tour on the shady terrace between Langson Library and the Gateway Study Center. He describes
What do I exactly mean by the word organic architecture? Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation (in this situation campus buildings) and the natural world. This is achieved through design approaches so sympathetic and well integrated with a site that buildings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition. Pereira was a visionary with great and revolutionary ideas for Irvine and especially for UCI. He designed the campus with as much minute details as possible. While designing the layout of the campus, he had kept in mind the distance between each major schools and the only possible way so as to keep all of them closer was to build them on the circumference of a circle. So Pereira left the center of the campus wide-open—just like Thomas Jefferson did at the University of Virginia. He wanted his “academical village” to live in balance with nature. This is what organic architecture is about. Using nature as the basis for design, a building or design must grow, as nature grows, from the inside out. Most architects design their buildings as a shell force their way inside. Nature grows from the idea of a seed and reaches out to its surroundings. At UCI, the Aldrich Park lays in harmony with the campus. It may or may not give everyone the small joys or frustrations when they walk across the beautifully designed park. I absolutely agree with Hess when he says, “Futuristic buildings, living lightly and respectfully on the earth, blending with nature: This is the core of Pereira’s vision for UC Irvine, and for the future of the American