Jade White/Gwalior Yellow sandstone, which was quarried by Tab India Inc. and fabricated in its facilities in Jaipur, India, and supplied by the company's U.S. office, Amsum & Ash of Minneapolis, MN, is slightly softer than the other varieties of sandstones available from India, making it an easy material to work with, according to its supplier. The material was selected because its coloring reflects the surrounding environment.
"We wanted to symbolize the land because of the history of the university, which is a land grant school," said Project Designer Stan Boles of BOORA Architects in Portland, OR. "It's the original agriculture school for California -- the leading school for research in farming -- and as of the last 40 or 50 years, it's been a leader for the wine industry. It's only 45 minutes to Napa Valley. There's a real stewardship of the land. It's the tradition of the university. This manifested itself architecturally in what we built the building out of."