Don Choi 

5pm PDT Friday, April 8, 2022 

Virtual | Zoom ID: 854 3141 3792 + Live Broadcast in the Rotunda 

Lecture title: William F. Cody and Palm Springs Modernism 

 

Known to his peers as an "architect's architect," William F. Cody was instrumental in developing what is now known as desert modernism, creating forms and spaces that furthered Palm Springs as an archetypal site for postwar leisure lifestyles. Yet communities such as Palm Springs and Indian Wells also excluded many groups by design, distancing this vision of optimistic, affluent modernism from the needs and situations of many of the actual residents of the Coachella Valley.  

Don Choi is an architectural historian who specializes in modern Japan and California. He holds an A.B. in economics from Princeton University, a M.Arch. from Rice University, and a Ph.D. in architectural history from the University of California, Berkeley. He conducted his doctoral research under Dr. Terunobu Fujimori at Tokyo University’s Institute of Industrial Science. Currently he is professor of architecture at California Polytechnic State University, where he teaches courses in architectural history and theory.