Page 8-Saturday, May 20, 1978--The Michigan Daily LSA Building The LSA building, the first new building to appear on campus since the Second World War, was completed in 1949. The structure, designed by Harley Ellington, served as the University's administration building for twenty years, until it was embraced entirely by the Literary College. This huge expanse of orange brick, with its vertical and horizontal stripes of windows, has been described by Ar- chitecture Professor Glen Paulsen as "hideous." Paulsen explains that the building is "one of the early attempts at modern architecture." This attempt apparently did not meet with much suc- cess. The bright orange color, which is the first thing that hits people when they look at the building and the thing that causes them to look promptly away, is due to the postwar shortage of the traditional campus red brick. The relief sculptures, however, depicting cumulo- nimbus mammalian and reptilian forms, have no ready ex- cuse. These splotches of sculpture insist upon dotting the in- tervals between a vertical series of windows on the State Street facade. "From 1948-53 was a very awkward period in architec ture," said Korman, explaining that many architects at that time were trying to come to grips with the changing styles, and find a transition into modern architecture. "The LSA Building reflects a sort of conservative, ten- tative modern which gave way to a later modern," said Marzolf. 'I was a student of architecture at the time those buildings were being built, and they were considered very up-to-date." 'It was a change from the historical styles," said Mar- zolf, referring to the Art Museum across the street from the See LSA, Page 11 Alumni Memorial Hall The Art Museum, also known as Alumni Memorial Hall, the Union. was conceived, not too surprisingly, by the Alumni Associa- Architecture professor Glen Paulsen says he does not tion as memorial, at the end of the civil war, "to com- feel the building "was particularly appropriate to its memorate not only those students and faculty who have par- (original) use. The scale is much more compatible with a ticipated in past wars, but also those who might serve in museum ... a public space," continues Paulsen. future wars." The structure, says Paulsen, is "characteristic of an era The plan was not implemented until the early twentieth when neo-classical architecture was commonplace." century, at which time the students, who were rooting for Marzolf calls the style, which employs classical elemen- the construction of a student union, loudly protested the ap- ts of architecture but does not copy classical buildings proval of the memorial, labeling it "The Mausoleum." "academic classicism." The classical style was a source of inspiration for architects during the period of the 1890s- The memorial was completed nonetheless; the tab, in- 1930s, and was used in numerous public buildings, such as cluding furnishings, came to $195,885.29. The furnishings city halls and art galleries. were for the offices and social gathering rooms of the The lines of the Alumni Memorial Hall are clean and Alumni Association, and the University Club, which was simple, sporting two sets of twin columns in the front, and then housed in the basement, some engaged, rectangular columns around the sides. The A few museum pieces were exhibited in the Hall, but the few windows are expansive, unbroken panes of tinted museum did not acquire full use of the building until 1946, glass, adding to the rather austere clarity and simplicity of when the 'U' Club and the Alumni Association had moved to the structure. e ! Administration Building The present Administration Building, designed by Alden Dow, was constructed in 1967. Its boxlike reddish-brown brick body is held aloft by a one-story pedestal. Two mousehole-shaped entrances penetrate the base, but they lead only into a long, narrow hallway. The building has surprisingly few windows for its size, and what win- dows there are are mere slits of glass turned either ver- tically or horizontally, seemingly at whim. "It's sort of functionalism turned around," said Marzolf. The theory behind functionalism is that the design of the building will reflect the workings of it. With the Ad- ministration Building, said Marzolf, the architect used an "exterior artistic approach and let the inside follow." "The windows don't function the least bit functionally," said Marzolf, explaining that the placement of the windows inside the Administration Building's rooms is often awk- ward. According to Marzolf, the window designs on the facades was inspired by the paintings of the Dutch artist Piet Mon- drian, who uses repeating rectangular shapes in his works. "I see the Administration Building as being covered with Mondrians on all four sides," chuckled Marzolf. There are theories tossed about as to why the Ad- ministration Building is raised off the ground and why the windows are so small and impractical. RP i Pa Universi wooden By Elisa Isaacso T ONE TIME the University of Michigan exis acres of wheat fields, pastures and peach ord Ann Arbor, then with a population of 2000, a spunky h boasting two bands, two newspapers, four churche eight mills and factories, nine doctors, eleven lawyer seventeen dry goods stores, had offered the ci teristically pancake-flat piece of property as a site- University. The land was approved by the state legisi after two days of consideration, selected over si Detroit, Marshall and Monroe, and the University be illustrious academic and architectural career. Erected on what is now the Diag were a dor classroom and four houses for professors. So, in the 1841, right on schedule, classes began, two professor parting their knowledge to all of seven students, e whom had paid his tuition fee of a whopping $10. From then on, the University expanded in every1 could-up, out, in size, in enrollment, in tuition.. campus outgrew its 40 acres, and spread in all direc especially northward, thus leading to the creation of Campus. NEW BUILDINGS were constructed, old buildings demolished, some buildings were added to, some bil were converted to different uses. Definite trends in d began to establish themselves, and many of these has fluenced even the most recent campus constructions. The system of diagonal walkways so characteristic University's design was created when the constructi the old medical and law schools necessitated an acros campus pedestrian circulation system. This diagonal pattern was echoed in the present Quadrangle, on the patch of grass behind the Building, in the Regents' Plaza and even in some buildings. Getting someplace and getting there quickly is ver portant on a campus, as everybody involved with on attest. "A diagonal is the shortest distance between points," explains Assistant University Planner Ken Art and A A product of the 70s, the Art and Architecture buil seems to have made the final architecture leap into ma nity, and done it gracefully. The building, designed Swanson and Associates, straddles a gently sloping conforming, in somewhat the same way as does Economics Building, to its environment by blending. The building is low in comparison to its vast expat and it sprawls itself out across the grassy North Cam lawn. The construction materials are glass and brick, though there might be some experimenting with si novelties as rusting iron, the effort comes off looking fa coordinated. The rust of the Art School meets, blends, and in changes with the sand-colored brick and smoked glao the Architecture wings. The division of materials is V simple. There is a low-hanging belt of continuous wind along the facade of the Art School, which is otherwise rust. The front facade of the Architecture School is as solid glass, except for a knee-sock high band of brick run along the bottom. The wall of smoked glass in front presents a probl however, as it is nearly transparent and at night alt totally so, making the building look like a cross-sec diagram of Santa's factory. According to i .riorraves i Leonard Eaton ,olf agrees that ds that the extr li