University Center

A rendering of the original University Center design. The UCen is situated with a view over the lagoon and towards the ocean, south of, and between the Music Building and the Arts Building. The UCen has had multiple additions and alterations, though the original concrete block piers can still be seen lining the lower patio, and the hipped tile roof over the center portion of the building is also intact.

Wallace Arendt (1917-1975), Glen Mosher (1914-2013?), and Robert Grant (1928-2017) were partners in an architecture firm in Santa Barbara from the mid-1950s until the mid-1970s. They designed many residences in Hope Ranch, Goleta, and Santa Barbara, as well as civic buildings, schools, and commercial buildings. At UCSB, they designed the Marine Science Lab (1964), Music II (1969), UCen I (1966), Library IV (1977), and University House (1964). In the 1980s, the firm changed its name to Grant, Pederson, Phillips and designed the Recreation Center; in the 1990s, the name changed again to Phillips Metsch Sweeney Moore Architects (PMSM) and designed the Psychology East building.

Arendt, Mosher, & Grant, architects

University of California, Santa Barbara Campus Building records, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

circa 1966

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