glass case of emotion: Weekly Response #3: Knowlton Hall

Weekly Response #3: Knowlton Hall
Matt Williams
Architect: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
School: Knowlton Hall
Client: Knowlton School of Architecture-OSU
Location: The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Year: 2004

At Missy's suggestion, for my revision, I have selected Knowlton Hall at Ohio State University. As fitting for a school of architecture, it is by far the most adventurous building on the campus. Keeping with the Knowlton School of Architecture's emphasis on fostering creativity, the exterior expresses a sense of adventurous styling. The way the building is clad in glass and marble shingles speaks not just of the institution's focus on melding of history and practice with creativity, but is also a thoroughly unconventional mixing of conventional materials. There's the heaviness of the marble precariously perched on the lightness of the glass and a few impossibly thin columns hinting that practicality must be built on lighter passions. There's an idea that this is the place to explore the unusual and embrace the unconventional. This is seen too in the building's curved walls and straight surfaces. Its as if to challenge the students of the institution to try and combine things that are usually distinct to create something that's all together new. The vast cut outs from the building on the porches, entrances, and south courtyard establish the solidity of the structure by paradoxically cutting away from it. They provide a opening into and out of the world contained within speaking of the school's emphasis on needing to appreciate your surroundings to successfully build new structures. Hidden among this dichotomy is reference to something pivotal to Knowlton's approach on architecture: a series of classical marble columns referring to the need to appreciate and understand the past in order to build from it.

The interior too provides a glimpse into Knowlton's style of education. It carries the exterior's themes inside with its light columns and use of glass. There's a vast openness in this place seemingly made of cold heavy concrete and light glass (there's that dichotomy again). Floors overlook each other, classrooms seem to flow into each other, the hundreds of studio spaces mix into each other, and the main hall provides an open place for critiques and reviews and becomes almost an auditorium. It plays on Knowlton's stress of communal learning and group consideration. There's the same emphasis on creativity with the floating library, curved skylight while the expansive use of glass invites the students to consider their environment.

This is not just a place of education, it is part of it. Its a temple of architectural training in the tradition of the Knowlton School of Architecture. It's a textbook with a front door.