Amphitheater

After quarrying operations ceased in 1946, nature began to reclaim the industrial landscape. When the University of California purchased part of the Cowell property from the S.H. Cowell foundation in 1961, the quarries, kilns, and buildings of Cowell's lime works and ranch were in ruins. Naturalist and photographer Ansel Adams, who visited the site of the future campus in order to document the ruins, urged campus planners to allow what was left of the natural landscape to flourish while preserving its industrial history. Adams repeated these thoughts in his Charter Day address in 1965.

The University consulted with several renowned architects throughout 1961 and 1962 in order to formulate a Long Range Development Plan for the construction of campus. The design philosophy of Thomas Church, a landscape architect based in San Francisco, heavily influenced the Plan. Church thought of landscape architecture as a form of environmental stewardship. He urged campus planners to minimize excavation of the hilly terrain and to preserve as many features of the natural landscape as possible—especially the redwoods. In a memo to other campus architects, he suggested that they should not force the land to "accommodate preconceived architectural schemes." Rather, he said, "Instead of remaking the land, the land must remake our standard conceptions of building and plaza and parking lot."

At the same time, Church and other campus planners did want to preserve and integrate the deteriorating structures of Cowell's lime works. In 1966, McHenry moved forward with Church's idea that the large space afforded by the Upper Quarry might best be repurposed as an outdoor auditorium. He envisioned the site not only as a performance venue and classroom, but also as a space for respite, where students could come together to listen to popular records, meditate, or study. Construction began in the quarry in April 1966, in order to create a temporary venue for McHenry's inauguration.