SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE ARC308 Third Year Architectural Design Studio


announcements	faculty	staff	events	images

ARC308 Architectural Design Studio - Spring 2003
Professors Bruce Coleman

Additional material, as suggested by some of you.

Return to Course Home Page


BUILDINGS TO KNOW. This list suggests a small number of buildings that I think every third year student should know. The list is highly biased towards formal issues, of spatial definition and composition. The intention here is to pick from among the very best, to pick just a few, to pick a variety based on different typologies, and then to study them very thoroughly. Where possible links to books in the university library system have been provided. Some building information is available on the web. In almost every case, however, the web information is significantly insufficient for the in-depth and graphic nature of the study required.
Return to Supplemental Material page.

Traditional
Pergamon, the sacred precinct, 2nd century BC.

Palazzo Farnese, in Rome, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Michelangelo, c. 1530-50 Free standing object building, preeminent palazzo plan Peripherally organized, centrally organized, void center building Monolithic structure, superimposed orders. Able to operate as both object building and space making building with clear front, back and side conditions. See: Portoghesi, Paolo, Rome of the Renaissance; translated [from the Italian] by Pearl Sanders. Bird-4th Floor, Fine Arts Limited Access Call Number: NA1121.R6 P613 See also: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/farnese/farnese.html
Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa), Tivoli (outside Rome) reputedly designed by Emperor Hadrian, 118-34 Enormous villa, or is it a small city? Composite plan, displaying an extensive catalog of methods of defining object buildings while composing them with respect to the terrain. Illustrates many methods of connection of objects. See: Villa Adriana (Hadrian's villa) near Tivoli. [Tr. from Italian revised by A. W. Van Buren] 1957, Bird-4th Floor, Call Number: NA7595.A3 A87 1957

Bank of England, in London by Sir John Soane, 1795-98. Internally or impacted composite building. Spatially composed building. Encased within a singular shell. Elaboration of sequence. Elaboration of connective devices. See: John Soane and the Bank of England / Eva Schumann-Bacia. 1991. Bird-4th Floor, Fine Arts Limited Access, Call Number: NA6245.G72 L63713 1991 Compare to Villa Adriana, above.
Villa Giulia, Rome, now the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, 9, P.le di Villa Giulia, 00196 Roma, by Jacopo Vignola, 1551-55 with parts by Bartolomeo Ammanati, 1553-55. Symmetrical plan. Concatenated plan (building within a building within a building). Axial spatial organization. Circulation begins on axis but then moves off it, only to move back on, only to move back off again. Layered courtyard facade with multiple levels of scale devices. See: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/visual_culture/projects/diva/giulia.html Compare to Palazzo del Te, in Mantova (Mantua) by Giulio Romano



Modern
Casa del Fascio, in Como, Italy, designed by Giuseppi Terragni, 1936 Compare to Palazzo Farnese. Free standing object building. Appears as a monolith but is really a skin (veneer) building. Able to operate as both object building and space making building with clear front, back and side conditions. See: http://www.vitruvio.ch/arc/contemporary/1880-1945/casafascio.htm

Meeting House, Salk Institute of Biological Study, La Jolla, CA, by Louis Kahn, 1959-65 Though never built, this is one of the best schemes of its type. Composite or aggregate form, clustered organization Centrally organized. void center An alternative would be the Museum for the Decorative Arts, in Frankfurt, Germany by Richard Meier, 1979-1985 The building is also a composite or aggregate form although one of the parts is an existing house. See: http://www.richardmeier.com/frank.html
Millowner's Association Building, Ahmedabad, India, by Le Corbusier, 1954 Circulation via Promenade Architectural Object building with front and back condition Brise soliel (sun screen) as deep facade Simple cubic form with plastic forms outside and inside.

Kimbell Art Museum, Ft. Worth, TX, by Louis Kahn, 1967-72 Building as a repetitive element with variations on the theme. Building as a grid. Expressive structure.
Taliesin West, near Scottsdale, Arizona, by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1938-59. Composite plan, interlocking plan, rotated geometries. Architecture of the heavy pier vs. the light wood frame

Buildings within a reasonable drive of Syracuse:
The Center for Science and Technology, Syracuse University, Kling Partnership of Philadelphia, PA. Koetter, Kim and Associates of Boston, MA worked as designers of the overall scheme, the exterior surfaces and primary interior spaces. Skoler and Lee of Syracuse, assisted with architectural production of the building. Michael Dennis assisted Koetter/Kim in he facade development.1989 Compound or composite building plan. Spatial proposition between SciTech and Slocum. Technical program reinterpreted as "noble architecture". Plastic facade Facade as reinterpretation of classical facade (locally symmetric composition, strong demarcation of corners, clear marking of base-middle-top condition, consistent cornice height
Science Building II, SUNY Cortland, Cortland NY, by Werner Seligmann, 1967. Building massing as spatial definer of the quad. Building with preferential sides (back/front condition). Building with dense/opaque side and open/transparent side. Building entered through dense side. Offset internal corridor reinforces back/front condition. Industrial esthetic Consistent detailing from window fenestration to railings. (Facade has been entirely replaced with one that is similar, but different from the original. The parking lot has been extended across the west (glass) side of the building removing a part of the view from the building. The lights attached to the building are for the parking lot and were not original.) See: http://soa.syr.edu/faculty/seligmann/ws.chronology.html Driving directions: Take Route 81 south to Cortland Exit 11. Turn right off the exit ramp on to Clinton Avenue Extension. At the second traffic light take a right on Clinton Avenue/Route 13. Drive approximately one mile, get into the center lane and make a left-hand turn at the light onto Church Street. From Church Street make a right-hand turn onto West Court Street. Take West Court Street to the top of the hill and make a right-hand turn onto Graham Avenue. Make the first left-hand turn onto Gerhart Drive, then a quick right-hand turn into the Miller Building parking lot. Visitor parking is marked in this lot. Continue to snake through the parking lots as far as you can go, or park in the visitor parking and proceed on foot. Map of the campus. Click on the image for a larger image.

First Unitarian Church, Rochester NY, by Louis Kahn, 1959-67 220 Winton Road South, Rochester NY 14610-2998 voice/(716) 271-9070 fax: (716) 244-5391 uurochny@frontiernet.net Articulated plan and massing Architecture as volume Building as monolith. Humble materials used in a noble way. Development of exterior shell as if it were a thick fortified wall. See the church's own web site at: http://www.ggw.org/unitarian/ Directions: Begin at Syracuse, NY 13244-0001 on University Pl and go West for 110 feet Turn right on S Crouse Ave and go North for 0.3 miles Turn left on Harrison St and go West for 0.3 miles Turn right on ramp at sign reading "I-81 N" and go North for 0.2 miles Continue on I-81 and go North for 4.0 miles Continue on ramp at sign reading "Exit 25A I-90 Thruway" and go West for 0.8 miles Continue on I-90,New York State Throughway, Gov Thomas E Dewey Thwy and go West for 68 miles Continue on ramp at sign reading "Exit 45 I-490 to Rochester" and go North for 0.5 miles Continue on I-490 and go Northwest for 11 miles Continue on ramp at sign reading "Exit 20 University Ave to Winton Rd" and go Northwest for 0.2 miles Bear left on University Ave and go Northwest for 400 feet Turn left on N Winton Rd,CR-98,Winton Rd N and go South for 0.4 miles to 220 Winton Rd S
Also: If you are going to make the expedition to Rochester, be sure to see the Boyton House by Frank Lloyd Wright, which is a few minutes drive away. A word of caution: the Boynton house is a private residence. Please respect the privacy of the owners and not trespass. Tours are available by appointment. Location: 16 East Boulevard (off East Avenue), on the east side of the street, the second house from the corner of East Boulevard and Park Avenue, Rochester, Monroe County, New York Present Owner and Occupant: Mrs. David Tinling
Also: The George Eastman house, on East Avenue. One of the early innovators of photography and founder of Kodak. A fascinating museum of photography.
Also: The Eastman Theater and Eastman School of Music. Now a division of the University of Rochester. Designed by the office of McKim Mead and White, though after they were gone. An interesting plan and section for the school and a beautiful 3,000 seat theater. Again you will need to call ahead to get in to the school. Contact: Eastman School of Music 26 Gibbs Street Rochester, NY 14604 (800) 388-9695 (U.S.A. and Canada) or (716) 274-1060 E-mail to: esmadmit@mail.rochester.edu
Also: The University of Rochester (UofR) campus. This university, which tends to be oriented to the technologies, has its main campus on the shore of the Genesee River. The original portion of the campus is a wonderful Beaux Arts quad, called the Eastman Quad, that runs from the river to the Rhees Library with matched sets of buildings on each side. The library has a cylindrical dome and beautiful interior space (1 on the map). To the north of the Eastman Quad is another quad, less well defined, that connects to the residential section. The connector building is Wilson Commons, the student union, designed by I. M. Pei, which is as good an example of a monolithic building as one could hope to find (38 on the map). See: http://www.rochester.edu/news/map.html Directions: From the New York State Thruway, Rt. 90 Exit 46; take I-390 North Exit 17. Turn left onto Scottsville Road. At the second light, bear right onto Elmwood Avenue. Cross the Genesee River Bridge and take a left onto Wilson Boulevard.
Also: While you're there, you should also pay a visit to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The entire campus is a relatively new one, built in the sixties and later, with buildings by some of the more noted architects of the day. The student union is by Eduard Larrabee Barnes and it is one of the reasons he secured the commission for the Schine here at Syracuse. For campus map, see: http://www.rit.edu/~930www/Proj/Welcome/campusmap.shtml Directions: From the New York State Thruway, take exit 46 Proceed north on Interstate 390 to exit 13 (Hylan Drive). Turn left on Hylan Drive and continue north to Jefferson Road, then turn left. Proceed west on Jefferson Road for approximately two miles to the campus.


	http://soa.syr.edu/faculty/bcoleman/Arc308Spring2003/308.buildings.to.know.html	Send email to: webmaster@soa.syr.edu
	Last update: November 09, 2003.	Copyright � 2004 Bruce M. Coleman
	No text, images or content on this page may be copied or linked to without the author's express written permission.