Vernon Armond DeMars (February 26, 1908 – April 29, 2005) was an American architect and professor at the

UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design The College of Environmental Design, also known as the Berkeley CED, or simply CED, is one of fourteen schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. The school is located in Bauer Wurster Hall on the southeast corner of the mai ...

. He specialized in Modernist housing projects and public housing complexes.

Biography

Vernon Armond DeMars was born on February 26, 1908, in San Francisco. As one of the principal members of the group

Telesis Telesis (from the Greek τέλεσις /telesis/) or "planned progress" was a concept and neologism coined by the United States, American sociologist Lester Frank Ward (often referred to as the "father of American sociology"), in the late 19th cen ...

founded in 1939; and he helped develop what

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a wr ...

called, the Second Bay Area Regional Style. He, along with Joseph Esherick, designed Wurster Hall,

Sproul Plaza Sproul Plaza (pronounced ) is one center of student activity at the University of California, Berkeley. It is divided into two sections: Upper Sproul and Lower Sproul. They are vertically separated by and linked by a set of stairs. History S ...

and the Student Center at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. While working as a visiting professor of architecture at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT), DeMars was part of a team that designed the 12-story Eastgate Apartments faculty housing project that

Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...

magazine called one of the 50 most significant buildings in the United States of the past century. He later assisted his former MIT colleague

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

in constructing the library at

Mount Angel Abbey Mount Angel Abbey is a Roman Catholic monastery of Benedictine monks in the northwest United States, located in St. Benedict, Oregon. Northeast of Salem, it was established in 1882 from Engelberg Abbey, Switzerland. The abbey, located on the to ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. DeMars, along with his architectural partner , taught at the

. The pair was involved with redevelopment work in

Marin City, California Marin City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 2,993, up from 2,666 in 2010. It is located northwest of downtown Sausalito, ...

, that won recognition from

Progressive Architecture The Progressive Architecture Awards (P/A Awards) annually recognise risk-taking practitioners and seek to promote progress in the field of architecture. History The editors of ''Progressive Architecture'' magazine hosted the first Progressive Arch ...

magazine in 1960.

References

External links

Finding aid to the Vernon DeMars Collection at the Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley
1908 births 2005 deaths Architects from San Francisco Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design faculty {{US-edu-bio-stub