High Line - Manhattan

We visited the High Line in Manhattan a few weeks ago. Although it was about to rain any minute, the new park was still packed with people. The High Line was originally constructed in the 1930's as an elevated track for freight trains. It is now a public park, with landscaping designed by James Corner Field Operations in conjuntion with Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects. The High Line runs from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues, and will eventually run all the way to 34th Street. It's a unique space with interesting views and naturalistic plantings - we definitely recommend a stroll in this park the next time you find yourself on the West Side of Manhattan. These photos show Frank Gehry's InterActiveCorp building as viewed from the High Line.

Last Post from Oxford - St. Antony's College

We are leaving England today, but 0ur posts from Oxford would not be complete without a little mention of St. Antony's College (where we've been staying along with some American study-abroad students). St. Antony's College was established in 1950 as a graduate college of international studies, and is situated in North Oxford. Its buildings include the former Holy Trinity Convent, which has a beautiful Gothic Revival chapel designed by John Loughborough Pearson that now houses the College's library. The firm Howell, Killick, Partridge, and Amis added the Hilda Bess building in the late 1960's, which houses a dining hall and commons rooms. This concrete-framed building is a reinterpetation of the age-old communal collegiate building, and despite its rather brutalist exterior is quite nice inside with a large dining hall lit by hooded windows. The Architects Design Partnership added the Nissan Centre for Japanese Studies in 1993, a carefully detailed building influenced by Japanese architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright. Also interesting are the unrealized designs for this college by Oscar Niemeyer, which were abandoned because of the economic recession of the 1970's.

The Divinity School, Bodleian Library, Oxford University

We are going back in time a couple of centuries from the previous post to talk about the Divinity School - the oldest lecture-room in Oxford. It took nearly 60 years to construct, and has been little altered since its completion in 1483. It served for 400 years as an examination room where candidates for the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Divinity demonstrated their knowledge orally in front of a "master", and only in the last 100 years has it ceased to be used for its original purpose. The interior is a showpiece of English Gothic architecture and masoncraft, with a complex vaulted ceiling decorated with intricately carved bosses. (You may also recognize it as the infirmary in the Harry Potter movies.)

The Sheldonian Theatre - The Age of Classicism Comes to Oxford, England

We are still visiting Oxford, England, although unfortunately we are scheduled to leave in a few days. We managed to see the interior of the Sheldonian Theatre today, Christopher Wren's first major building commission completed in 1667. Wren based his design on Roman amphitheaters, and thus the Sheldonian was the first building in Oxford to be modeled directly from a structure dating from classical antiquity. He had to adapt this form to the use of a modern theatre where academic ceremonies would be conducted. One required deviation was that of a roof (Roman theatres were open to the sky), and Wren solved this problem with his typical mathematical expertise by creating trusses that spanned 70 ft. with no intermediate supports. These trusses were hidden from view by a ceiling that was painted by Robert Streater with allegorical scenes surrounding a central area of clouds and blue sky. The exterior of this building (although its main facade resembles illustrations found in Vetruvius) is thought not to be altogether successful. (This may have been partially a result of the tightening of funds as the building was completed.) What gives this building much of its interest, though, is that it is the earliest work of a man who would come to be known as England's greatest classical architect.
























This view (above) is taken from the cupola of the Sheldonian Theatre. You can see why Oxford is often referred to at the "city of spires".

New College - Oxford University

New College was founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham, about the time that Mob Quad at Merton College was being completed. It had a generous endowment from the start, and was the first college plan to be conceived all at one time as a coherent architectural whole. From the time it was built and to the present day, New College set the standard for collegiate architecture in Oxford. It has a wonderful cloister, completed in the late 14th century, and the original town wall dating from the early 1200's is still visible along the North edge of the campus.

Merton College - Oxford University

We are still visiting Oxford, England and its many historic colleges. Merton College was founded in 1264 and is one of the oldest colleges at Oxford University. It has a beautiful chapel, which is thought to be the finest late 13th century building in Oxford. The plan of the college developed haphazardly over time, incorporating existing buildings dating before the college, but eventually Mob Quad evolved (one of the oldest collegiate quadrangles).

Compass and Rule - Architecture as Mathematical Practice in England

We visited the Museum of the History of Science on Broad Street, and saw an interesting exhibit titled Compass and Rule - Architecture as Mathematical Practice in England, 1500-1750. This exhibit displayed drawings and instruments that show the transition of the practice of architecture from a craft to an intellectual pursuit. Some of the more interesting drawings were the first medieval maps drawn to scale and used for military purposes, and of course the drawings of Christopher Wren for the dome of London's St. Paul's Cathedral. Wren's drawings are one of the first recorded instances of an architectural form being developed during the design process (instead of during construction). Also of interest were the drawings of King George III from the 1700's. He was one of the first "gentleman-architects" and studied architecture with a tutor. His drawings preserve his first steps as a teenager to his sophisticated designs as a middle-aged man. As paper was precious, it was unusual to save a record of the basic beginning exercises. These drawings give us an idea of what an architectural education was like in the 18th century. This exhibit will be coming to the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut in February 2010.