LOS ANGELES—Bernards, a nationally ranked commercial builder with five offices throughout the Southwest, recently broke ground on the University of Southern California's new Wallis Annenberg Hall, a dazzling new home for the famous Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Bernards is serving as general contractor for the project. The Annenberg Foundation committed up to $50 million for the showcase, high-tech academic building.

Although Annenberg Hall references the past via striking red brick Collegiate Gothic architecture, the project clearly reflects technologies of the future, with networked, media-saturated classrooms and laboratories, and the latest technologies and equipment throughout the building. With a design that includes plans for gathering spaces for the local community, Annenberg Hall will rank as one of the anchor sites of Los Angeles' downtown arts and education corridor.

America's passion for spectacular Collegiate Gothic architecture dates back to 1878, with the first appearance of two Gothic-inspired halls, designed by William Burges at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. This sparked a trend that transformed many college campuses across the country for more than a century, providing an aura of dignity and authenticity in the ivy-covered academic environment.