Robert Professor Harris

When developer Alexander Haagen was preparing to revive the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in South Los Angeles, he was frustrated that the plaza site was divided by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a split Haagen and his architects believed would hinder the complex's commercial success. Their solution? Create a bridge over the street, linking the shopping center's halves.

When developer Alexander Haagen was preparing to revive the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in South Los Angeles, he was frustrated that the plaza site was divided by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a split Haagen and his architects believed would hinder the complex's commercial success. Their solution? Create a bridge over the street, linking the shopping center's halves.

When Robert Harris was offered the top job at the USC School of Architecture eight years ago, he was forced to choose between two very different ways of working and living. As a professor and department head at the University of Oregon, Harris could either continue his pleasant, well-run life in sleepy Eugene--or he could assume a job at a school that had lost direction in a city that was energetic and changing. "The options were radical but the choice was easy," Harris recalls.

When Robert Harris was offered the top job at the USC School of Architecture eight years ago, he was forced to choose between two very different ways of working and living. As a professor and department head at the University of Oregon, Harris could either continue his pleasant, well-run life in sleepy Eugene--or he could assume a job at a school that had lost direction in a city that was energetic and changing. "The options were radical but the choice was easy," Harris recalls.