|
||
      |
REAL PRAIRIE GOTHIC
Because of the title of the October/04 article about the Graduate School of Business’s new building—“Prairie Gothic”—I felt I must respond. The choice of relating context to a residence, when you are designing a building in excess of 400,000 square feet, only works if it is a residence for a duke or earl, or at least several hundred students, not a single family home. The Gothic comparison is minimal. The building tends to have more the appearance of setting on a platform, a classic device, than rising up from the ground as in the Gothic. The interior court with the arches is not shared with those outside the building. The building is quite attractive on its own and it does step back from the Robie House, which helps.
In any case, the campus already has a Prairie Gothic building, Hitchcock Hall, designed by Dwight Perkins. It looks essentially neo-Gothic, but if you look closely you can see details of corn and prairie flowers worked into the design around the entrance and in the lounge.
Cal Audrain
Chicago
The Magazine welcomes letters. Letters for publication must be
signed and may be edited. To ensure a range of views, we encourage letters
of fewer than 300 words. Write Editor, University of Chicago Magazine,
5801 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637. Or e-mail: uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.
