Week 1 - Temple Hoyne and main principles

Today we took a closer look at the building in which we meet everyday – Temple Hoyne Buell Hall. We talked about a lot of different fundamental ideas in architecture. First and foremost, what it is. I like to think of architecture as not only the way to design a building for function and beauty, but also something with significant meaning, which is something Cody talked about. Patrick (aka Mark) spoke about how different architects have different styles or flares. That is why I really enjoyed looking closer at Temple Hoyne. It is very different from most of the other buildings on campus, as it was completed in 1994/1995 and really unites three different areas of study into one building. The landscape architecture, urban planning, and architecture sections all come together to form the one building. You can actually see the separate buildings inside, with three brick walls along the inside of the building being brought together by the open space in the middle. Another interesting thing was how the classrooms and offices are connecting by bridges, which signifies learning. This is sort of the “deeper meaning” that I find so interesting when looking at buildings.

We also walked to the architecture building, which was built by Charles Platt. We used the ideas of foreground, which we had also discussed while we were looking around in Temple Hoyne. You cannot look at two things at once and see both of them as they really are. One will serve as a focus point, and the other will the back background to your eyes. In Temple Hoyne, the stairs and the metal mesh covering utilize this idea. You can see them both at the same time, but one is going to be the focus and the other the background. On the outside of the architecture building, there sort of appears an aqueduct coming from the tops of the windows. The first two levels of windows are connected with stone so they appear like large archways. I can see why Prof. Hinders though this was the best building Charles Platt did. Although at first glance, it appears a fairly normal brick classroom hall, a more keen eye will pick up on the nuances that Mr. Platt was trying to portray.