Fitting Nod to the Future

Persuading world-renowned architect Sir Norman Foster to design a library and media center for Cal State Channel Islands is a prestigious coup for the fledgling university and all of Ventura County--perhaps a risky one.

There may well be a bit of controversy as this modern master of sleek glass-and-steel towers turns his attention to this sprawling collection of Spanish-style stucco.

Let it come. We salute university President Handel Evans, an architect himself, for daring to recruit his old schoolmate Foster to join the team creating Cal State Channel Islands. And we welcome Foster’s vote of confidence in CSUCI’s future and his high-profile contribution to its international reputation--not bad for a school that has yet to admit its first student.

The university is gestating in the former quarters of Camarillo State Hospital, a bucolic collection of Spanish mission-style buildings--all red tile roofs and arched passageways. With its mature landscaping and harmonious architecture, it had the feel of a university campus even before the Cal State Channel Islands sign went up. So far, its signature architectural detail is its picturesque bell tower.

That stands to change dramatically under Foster’s touch. If the informal agreement is finalized as expected and financial details can be worked out, his mission would be to transform an old medical laboratory into an ultramodern landmark laboratory of learning. It is one of several Spanish-style structures slated for renovation at the campus.

Foster, recently awarded the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s most coveted award, is best known for his elegant high-tech constructions. His highly praised buildings include the billion-dollar headquarters of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. in Hong Kong, described by The Times’ architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff as “one of the great towers of the 20th century.” Others are the new Great Court for the British Museum and the largest airport in the world, the recently completed $20-billion Hong Kong International.

The subway system Foster designed for Bilbao, Spain, Ouroussoff notes, features “glass-and-steel canopies that appear to worm their way out of the ground like gigantic orifices.”

How will such a flair for the dramatic mesh with the dignified homogeneity of the existing campus?

We wonder this with far more enthusiasm than trepidation. Many architects could design a media center to match the surrounding buildings. We trust Foster to design one that will force us to see them in an entirely new way.

We are heartened by Foster’s most recent project, the renovation of Berlin’s Reichstag to serve as the seat of the German government for the first time since 1933. To exorcise the dark demons of German history, Foster opened up the building’s interior under a spectacular glass dome, with ramps spiraling up its center. The light-filled space instantly became an emblem of reinvigorated German democracy.

“His best designs reflect a belief in technology’s ability to create a more humane world, where natural light and air function as therapeutic tools,” wrote critic Ouroussoff. “In Foster’s hands, these themes are articulated with a remarkable degree of technical refinement.”

A Norman Foster-renovated media center promises to be a bold stroke befitting the high hopes Ventura County has for its first full-fledged public university.