Bunche Architecture Analysis

Modern buildings focus mainly on their function while utilizing a stylistic minimalist aesthetic. On the UCLA campus a prime example of a modern building is Bunche Hall, which exhibits many hallmarks of modern architecture. Because of its modern sensibilities, Bunche also exemplifies notions of neoclassicism in terms of the classic American college, the picturesque, and modernism in order to function socially as a building that emphasizes new ideas in modern education and to serve as an easily accessible and welcoming learning area for students. The social function of Bunche is mainly to serve as a classroom, which is emphasized through its structure. However, the inclusion of a garden in an open courtyard with seating makes it an area able …show more content…
Overall, the structure is somewhat labyrinth like. From the front of its hall, Bunche stands at imposing attention with its structure covered in evenly spaced, square windows. When one walks underneath one of the square archways, they are greeted by a courtyard equipped with a corridor that leads to the garden and stairs that lead to the various other levels. Bunche is dark and neutral in color from the front, but it 's materials still make it look like a polished marble monument and the floors and walls of the interior are a variety of teal hued tiles. Looking up at the building from the garden below makes it look even more massive as it stretches towards the sky. The repetition of shapes and lines within the interior section of the building (that encloses the garden) reinforces the building 's modern feeling. Bunche Hall is an updated version of the classic college building, best exemplified on campus by Royce Hall or Powell Library, but shows a reverence for these buildings of the past, making it adhere to a modern interpretation of the ideas of Neoclassicism. The classic college type building is tall, made of brick, and has a landmark quality about it, most likely inspired by Ivy League campuses of the East Coast; they are …show more content…
Unlike other buildings on campus that are no less elegant for having several ornamentations, Bunche is relatively unadorned and bare bones. Bunche Hall is, for all intents and purposes, a rectangle. It does not have anything that it does not need, and is suspended in air on surprisingly thin columns, similar to the Seidler house (CITATION, PERHAPS ELABORATION). Most modern buildings are extremely appealing to the eye because of their simplicity, and Bunche is no exception. The repetition of the shape of the window is intriguing and geometric. Since the building was completed in 1964, it is chronologically right on time to be part of the modernist architecture movement. The architect, Maynard Lyndon, was well known for using concrete and glass (two classic materials that were a favorite of modernist architects) in new and exciting ways. Lyndon also liked to design buildings that "were actually humane places. The work around lighting, space and real attention to life was what animated all his work." (LA TIMES). The use of the building is easily seen because of the attention placed on how students will use the building. Bauhaus ideals are also present in Bunche 's design. The "aim of the Bauhaus is the unified work of art- the great structure- in which there is no distinction between monumental and decorative art," which is present in the layout of Bunche Hall (Gropius). The relationship in terms of scale between