Orange Coast College
Developed on a former Army air base in Costa Mesa between 1943 and 1956, the core of the Orange Coast College campus represents the collaboration of architects Robert Alexander and Richard Neutra with landscape architect Garrett Eckbo. The designers restricted vehicles to the periphery, resulting in a pedestrian-friendly campus. Comprised of stucco, steel, louvered panels, and long windows, the detached, single-story classrooms are integrated physically and visually with open lawns, low masses of vegetation, and selectively-placed specimen trees. The Vision 2020 plan launched by Orange Coast College officials in 2015 to meet the demands of a growing student body suggested demolishing many of the Neutra and Alexander-designed buildings, but for now the Modernist historic quad remains largely intact.
Costa Mesa, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt