Walking Tour 2 - The Architecture Building and Temple Hoyne Buell

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The places that were the primary focus during class today were Temple Hoyne Buell and the Architecture building. In THB, we discussed how the building was more similar to three buildings, all unified under one roof, more of a structural, three-sided doughnut. This is due to the vast, open space in the center of the building that the three sides look into. One of the “buildings” is where all of the faculty’s offices are located. Another of the buildings is where all of the student labs are located. These two buildings are connected by bridges that are meant to represent the interaction between the students and faculty.

The form of the exterior of THB can be simplified to the overlapping of two squares. This shape is accentuated by the placement of panes of glass and by corners of the building. At the vertical overlap of the two squares, there is a strip of glass windows, creating a tall entrance. At the bottom is the actual entrance, marked by glass doors.

Turning from THB, we can see the Architecture building. It is a long, red brick building, with two chimneys, acting as bookends to the building. We discussed the “phenomenal transparency” of the building or the aspects of the design of the building being purposefully ambiguous. Above a line of windows, there were sets of arches that called to mind the ancient aqueducts of Rome. If you focus on the aqueduct like arches, you couldn’t see the vertical lines created by the lighter colored stone around the windows. There was also a lighter colored band that wrapped horizontally around the whole building. This, in combination with the same colored vertical stripes, gave the impression that the horizontal band went over the vertical stripes.

At the entrance of the Architecture building, the door was flanked by a pair of composite columns, which is a combination of ionic, characterized by the scrolls, and Corinthian, characterized by the acanthus flowers. When we entered the building, we walked into a very symmetrical space. We stood in the center of four columns. On one side, the entrance. In two directions, opposite from one another, lay hallways that once led to large, open rooms. The whole original floor plan was lain out with such simplicity, it allowed for time to change it in more complicated ways if it was needed.