The State of University Architecture
 

Although I can't attest to what's transpiring across the country, the prevailing trend among the universities which with I keep in contact is to plague their campuses with boring, post-modern buildings. Should universities be given a break because they ought to be directing funding toward improving education rather than good architecture? What type of buildings are going up in campuses in your area? Share your thoughts on the state of university architecture.

A few examples:
Grainger Hall - University of Wisconsin-Madison (my alma mater) (taken by Joe Koshollek)
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphic..._80308_big.jpg

Fluno Center - University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://bethandben.com/uploaded_images/fluno-725593.jpg

Prentice Women's Hospital - Northwestern
http://www.owpp.com/resources/conten...-Day-final.jpg

Andrew J. McGowan Science Building - DePaul (taken by me)
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5...cesbldgqa9.jpg

An exception: The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library - University of Chicago
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/7...n5printeg3.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/5...n6printti6.jpg

^^^ That's hardly and exception, University of Chicago has a long history of not building crap. While Madison has a long history of building crap, like all the brutalist schlock they built in the 70's that never turned out well. Compare that to the brutalism at U of C which is gorgeous and well thought out...

Loyola University has built some pretty good stuff lately.

Baumhart hall:
http://www.scb.com/images/project/105/6551.jpg
from SCB's website

The Information Commons:
http://www.chicagobuildingcongress.o...oyola250px.jpg
Chicagobuildingcongress.com

http://www.todaysfacilitymanager.com/images/0804p34.jpg
Todaysfacilitymanager.com

http://www.scb.com/images/project/15...lashfacade.jpg
scb.com

The information commons is also one of the most high-tech green buildings in Chicago, follow this link to the scb website to check out its features, its pretty freaking cool: http://www.scb.com/?mainpage=2&paget...l=7&seclevel=0

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant the library project is an exception to the general trend of building crap, not an exception to what the U of C builds.

What is your opinion of Weese's Humanities Building, which is slated for demolition? (taken by Jeff Miller):
http://photos.news.wisc.edu/photos/H...ilding94_1.jpg

My alma mater, Johns Hopkins, has pretty well stuck with the Georgian theme of the original campus building, Homewood House (built in 1800 by a Maryland signer of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution):

Homewood House
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1219568906

Gilman Hall, the first building the University built on-site (those are Christmas lights on the columns)
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1219569037

Modern (to varying degrees) buildings around campus:

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1219569097

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1219569152

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1219569213

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1219569307

Of particular interest is the main library building. The university has a large library collection requiring a 7-story building which would have been very out of place on the campus, so they built it on a slope with the side facing the main quadrangle just one story as seen here, the other side facing a main Baltimore street (Charles St.) being 2 stories but 5 stories under ground.

Main Library (Milton S. Eisenhower Library) - Quadrangle side
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1219569384

Main Library - Charles St. side
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1219569605

San Francisco City College is building a branch to serve Chinatown. It was going to look like this:

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/20...d_e1_place.jpg
Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object...QST0U3.DTL&o=0

By the time the NIMBYs got through with it (through the "public input" process), this is what they are building:

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/20...0498735825.jpg
Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...type=printable

:gaah:

^ Ugh...

It amazes me how these NIMBY's actually believe they are sophisticated human beings

I like it when a campus has a unifying "look", to its buildings. That way it looks and feels like a campus, it has an identifiable "sense of place". An obvious exception though would be for more urban/downown campuses.

Having some unifying theme does not have to limit creativity and variety. I like the "Information Commons" building on that Chicago campus for example. Its very contemporary, but the corners of the building connect it to the rest of the buildings around it. Of course not every single building HAS to be like that, but having a majority of them creating that unifying, campus feel, is quite nice.

Here in Tulsa, TU for a while started adding some buildings that didnt in any way look like the older buildings. It seemed to diminish the look of the campus. It was a small campus anyway and by adding lots of ecclectic buildings you didnt get the sense of it being any larger or better. Recently almost all of the new buildings have been going back to the elegant, stone/gothic look that typified the original look of the campus. One exception that I think works, was the new Basketball Center the "Reynolds Center" Which is very distinct, but is still obviously part of the campus and adds to the campus feel. Its definitely ok to have the occasional, unique, exception.

What I dont like is when I see these campuses that, unless you had told me it was a campus, I wouldnt have realized it was. The pics that show you a street or view that could be any non-descript street, any where. You cant tell where the campus ends or begins or which buildings are part of the campus and which are not. Where that does work is in a downtown or more urban setting. Here in Tulsa the example would be the Metro TCC campus. It started out in one building then grew to the one next door, then the next, then built its own buildings, etc. These types of campuses by default, have to be ecclectic in nature. And it somehow seems to work in a downtown type area anyway.

Copenhagen Business School - Kilen Building (my uni);

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/...43e026a670.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1038/...aec8579d11.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/64/21...5eb8955736.jpg


Malmö University - "the Hurricane";

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/4...1b6358ba49.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1141/...68d858077f.jpg

Ahh, I see. I didn't understand you correctly.

My opinion of the Humanities building. I love how it looks. Its fun and playful yet looks like it hates you. Parts of it kinda float and draw you in, even though it looks like its going to fall on you. However, as much as I like it, it fails as good architecture because, lets face it, its just not adaptable. It had a horrible interior layout to begin with (Ive only been in there two or three times and found it extremely confusing) and that horrible layout cannot be adapted to any sort of new use and modern demands without using wayyyy too many taxpayer dollars. So I understand the call to demolish it, but I would love them to keep it if they can find a way to remodel it effectively...

Its easily the best building built at UW during that time period.

Yeah damn those preservationists and urban planners.:koko:

Then again a neo classical building would work for me..:cheers:

^^^ How is still allowing a building to be torn down, but advocating that something crappier be built in its place in any way "preservation"...

Here's a picture of the new Lewis Library in Princeton I took back in July.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/9728/111se4.jpg

The school I attend, Tulane University, has quite a few of the post-modern buildings here, especially in the older south part of campus, but the north part of campus is decidedly mid-century modern, and a new student center was recently designed to fit in here.

http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisw...nn3lavin_b.jpg
http://images.publicradio.org/conten...22_vjaa_33.jpg

Arizona State is building a new campus in Downtown Phoenix (well its been open for a year or two now, but the first major construction phase is about done), and I think they're doing a lovely job creating not only nice looking buildings, but good urban buildings that react to the desert environment and to the street:

Picture taken by PHX_PD over in the Mountain West forum:

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/1599/img2975hf1.jpg

The new Walter Cronkite School of Journalism building (the reddish metallic one), which is slated to be one of the finest in the nation from a technological standpoint. In the foreground is the new Downtown Phoenix Civic Space park which should be completed around March '09, suspended above it will be a large art piece by Janet Echelman. Here are a few renderings of the piece:
1, 2,3

A shot I took of the Journalism school and dorm construction (though this is a few months old):
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...g?t=1206477024

Another shot of the Journalism building from HX_Guy over in Mountain West:
http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/2594/52021435ir9.jpg

A rendering of what it'll look like when all the construction mess is cleaned up and the vegetation is in place:
http://cronkite.asu.edu/about/images...bldg_may07.jpg

In the background are the Taylor Place dorms, which look bland from the outside, but at nice they're lit up quite nicely.

Another, closer shot of Taylor Place from HX_Guy:
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/7711/asu1ux7.jpg

A rendering of what the dorms will look like:
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7...ndorms1ak1.jpg
A little bland from the outside, but the interior of each floor has a different color of paint and light and it looks cool from the street (though I can't find a good night picture of it).

The steel for the new ASU School of Nursing and Health Care Innovation is rising along Van Buren (again courtesty HX_Guy):
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/2368/asu5wj8.jpg

When its finished it'll look like this:
http://nitnelav.com/ASUNursingnew1.jpg

Behind it you see the new Sheraton Hotel tower (with its heinous 1970s exterior) and the new Taylor place dorms to the right.

TCU here in Fort Worth is in the middle of a massive building program. One of the largest pieces of it is the new campus commons, which is wrapping construction now:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/...c76f8eb2_b.jpg

All of this was formerly a parking lot. The school is moving parking to the fringes and requiring far more students to live on campus. To that end, they've built this new commons as a central greenspace. It is surrounded on all sides by new construction. The buildings lining it are new residence halls, while the building enclosing it at the end (with the clock tower) is the new university union.

I'll have to get some actual photos. I love the way the project has turned out. The new buildings are traditional and fit in well with the existing structures (all unified, of course, by the use of the famed TCU brick color), but still have a few bits of flash to them.

ardecila: I go to Tulane as well. My understanding is the student center has been around for a while (and was always modern) but had a facelift in the last few years.

Good job TCU!

Michigan State is in the process of raising the rest of the funds to build the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.

http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com...t%20Museum.jpg

Uptowngirl: Yeah, I think it was a very intense renovation. I don't remember how intense, but I want to say they gutted it down to the structure. I forget though.

It was in a magazine I read, from what I saw in the magazine I like the building.

oma at cornell
milstein hall
http://blog.sub-studio.com/images/2006/0920mil1.jpg