physics

Physicians Building

Physicians Building is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Physicians Building rather than just read about it. In short: The Physicians Building in Fresno, California, at 2607 Fresno St., was built in 1926. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Key takeaways

Physicians Building belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Physicians Building to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Physicians Building from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Physicians Building in Fresno, California, at 2607 Fresno St., was built in 1926. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

It is a building of office units opening out into a central, interior courtyard topped by a large skylight and clerestory window. It was designed by architect Charles E. Butner and built by contractor R. Pedersen. It is an extraordinary hybrid of Mediterranean Revival and Italianate styles. Its National Register nomination states:At the time of its design and construction in 1926, the Physicians Building consisted of some twenty-eight rooms, grouped into separate office units which opened out onto a centrally built interior court. With an area of over a thousand square feet, the courtyard was an exceptionally large common space for a building with exterior dimensions of approximately 73 x 85 feet. An octagonal fountain and fish pond, some eight feet across and built of a beige-colored stone, was designed to provide a bench surface as well as atmospheric character for the central axis of the medical building. Rising some 18 feet above a floor surface of highly polished serpentine-green linoleum tile (at the time, a technological wonder which provided the rich tonal range of genuine marble), a superbly detailed skylight allowed natural light to filter into this large court-space through individually set panes of pebbled glass installed below a clerestory roof. Built of some 13 inches of milled and layered Cyma-Recta double curves, the finished woodwork which made up the ceiling's structural element was painted an off-white, in keeping with the intricacy of its classically Italianate appearance. Eight quarter columns with simple striped and banded crests at capital height, as well as four corner columns, completed the formal symmetry of this elegant medical reception area.Originally located at the edge of town, adjacent to residential areas bordering to the east and west, Physicians Building offered a particularly handsome entrance elevation along its frontage on Fresno Street. Its clean, white stucco walls (over a brick substructure) contrasted brilliantly with a typically-Californian red-tile roof. Exterior details were markedly subtle, a factor contributing to the building having been mislabelled as simply "Spanish Style." Sash-type screened windows with full cast projecting sills. A recessed arched entrance positioned on the central axis, with a radial fan window over double french-style doors; a simple chamfered projecting base (Plinth) which banded the entire building; and the formal, engraved Roman Majuscules denoting Physicians Building; were all details more in keeping with the stricter tenets of the Italianate mode. Window trims and door casements were painted an: electric thalo blue-green, and the front six paired windows were shielded by brilliantly striped canvas awnings — additions of raw color reminiscent of the lively theatricality of mezzo-mediterranean cultures.During the late 1960s, Physicians Building suffered an unfortunate aesthetic injustice when it was "modernized" by individuals insensitive to its architectural significance as a Mediterranean revival hybrid. It has also been known as Civic Center Professional Building.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Physicians Building

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Physicians Building claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Physicians Building before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Physicians Building ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Physicians Building

In research: Physicians Building appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Physicians Building in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Physicians Building is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Buildings and structures completed in 1926, Italianate architecture in California, Mediterranean Revival architecture in California, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Physicians Building outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Physicians Building in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Physicians Building means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Physicians Building out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Physicians Building in simple terms?

The Physicians Building in Fresno, California, at 2607 Fresno St., was built in 1926. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Why does Physicians Building matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Physicians Building?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Physicians Building.