Why You Should Avoid Slavish Devotion to a Single Style
Lawrence Speck is a former dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin and is guest-blogging at the Chronicle's Buildings & Grounds Blog this May:
I am a big fan of college campuses that have a real sense of order, cohesiveness, and harmony. I think universities have produced some of the most outstanding physical environments in the United States primarily because they have believed in planning and in the power of multiple buildings to create a whole that is much greater than the sum of the parts. I think contextual concerns should be a major design determinate in creating any building on a college campus.
But I am dismayed by what seems like a current trend among many universities to establish a style for buildings on their campuses and to slavishly replicate buildings in that style.
Labels: campus planning, design, facilities
posted by Terry Calhoun at
11:04 AM
1 Comments:
I agree with Mr. Speck - my favorite college campuses have a diversity of style, but are unified by landscape, a strong underlying plan, and good design. Campuses that try to enforce a single (usually historic revival) style only succeed by distorting and debasing the style to fit the scale and requirements of modern buildings. However, establishing a single campus style has appeal as a safer and easier approach for campuses that want to establish a 'brand' and lack confidence in their ability to create good architecture. Unfortunately, once you start down the path of enforcing a single 'style', you can't easily break out of it.
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