University of Chicago

Originally uploaded by josh.ev9.

Aren’t these buildings beautiful? I think so. So detailed, so ornate, they have that gothic thing going for them like crazy. This is an architectural style we have really lost.

I took a walk around the University of Chicago campus yesterday while Karen was in a meeting. Like most college campuses I’ve visited, the University of Chicago is quite beautiful. Walls & buildings are ivy-covered, and the buildings have great little details like faces and animals growing out of them. Doorways aren’t just doorways, they’re artistic renditions of the concept.

Eli (or is it Marty) says that engineers build systems by adding details, designers do so by taking details away, simplifying tasks by only displaying/allowing what is needed. Modern architecture seems to take the design approach, simplifying buildings to their basic building blocks. This likely makes them much easier to build, and perhaps allows architects to figure out how to make the structures taller & taller & taller. I think, though, that it may be a mistake to continue this trend. I’d like to make a call to current and upcoming architects: bring back detailed, artistic accoutrements to modern architecture. These details shouldn’t be banished to academic and older buildings.

Ahh, I love the architecture of college campuses. Am I prepared to leave academia? (Related question: am I prepared to enter “the real world?”) Oy…