Students Around and on the Steps of the Cesar Chavez Student Center (Updated last month)

You can view this bundle in the SFSU Over the Years collection area.

Students gather across the broad concrete terraces of the Cesar Chavez Student Center, some climbing the steep outdoor steps while others settle onto the sun-warmed tiers to read, talk, or simply rest between classes. Below, the plaza is busy with foot traffic and clusters of classmates in conversation, capturing the everyday rhythm of campus life. The building’s dramatic angular forms—part of its distinctive “iceberg” design completed in 1975—create a striking backdrop of geometric planes and shadows, making the steps one of the most recognizable and frequently used social spaces on campus.

Tags: sf state buildings and architecture , student union scenes

Added to SFSU Over the Years on July 31, 2026.

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Information

  • Identifier: TP-ATA-0680
  • Context: <p>A signature building of the San Francisco State campus is the Cesar Chavez Student Center. The unique design was one of seven proposals which students had voted on in 1966. Originally, the proposal of Canadian Architect Moshe Safdie had won the student vote. The administration dismissed his design following the 1968 Student Strikes and welcomed back the other finalists to design a student center that could be &ldquo;a place that facilitated student gathering but not student uprising," described in architect Paffard Keatinge-Clay&rsquo;s biography. The final design was created by Paffard Keatinge-Clay in collaboration with student input through the form of a class. Together they designed an &ldquo;iceberg&rdquo; building with two pyramids. &ldquo;The pyramid of silence is aligned with the axis of the north star, and faces northeast for &ldquo;quiet, introspective activities; while the second pyramid faces west&rdquo; and is intended for more &ldquo;boisterous, public activities." The building was completed in 1975.<br /><br />HUD suspended construction of the Student Union Towers demanding access for the disabled. Source: Zenger&rsquo;s (Jan. 29, 1975): 3.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Credits:</strong>&nbsp;Some descriptions were developed with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model by OpenAI.</p>
  • Geographic Coverage: San Francisco, CA
  • Type: Still Image
  • Format: 35mm Slide
  • Source: San Francisco State University Archives
  • Rights: Public

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