"John Tyler, William Pereira, Mrs. Seaver on the Platform at the Dedication," 1971 (Pepperdine University Archives Photograph Collection)William Pereira
Architect
William Pereira was the architect responsible for designing Pepperdine's Malibu campus. It was Pereira's vision that has come to be called the most beautiful college campus in the country.
Pereira worked closely with president William Banowsky in the planning phases. Pereira and Banowsky so often coincided in their vision that they were sometimes jointly called "the two Bills."
Before he got the Pepperdine job, Pereira had designed LACMA, the Theme Building at LAX, and the Geisel Library at UCSD. In fact, it was Pereira who drew up the master plan for Malibu, including the allocation of 138 acres for an institution of higher education.1
Pereira was an eccentric (Banowsky recalls him wearing a cape on a visit to Malibu),2 but he was a world-renowned architect, even appearing on the cover of Time in 1963 in association with his plan for the city of Irvine, California.3