Salient Simplicity

For memorial visual effects, multiplicity or simplicity?

Facades fractured and variegated by color, texture, and shapes have their appeal, and arguably, are the essential features of current award-winning campus architecture. In the dash to be chic and stylish, the delights of simplicity should not be forgotten. Simplicity here means the disciplined use of a few selected materials.

Pictured are two superb examples, a half century apart. At Montana State University, circa 1925, the designer's use of brick and stone, the repeating curving elements, and the studied differences in fenestration are melded into a masterwork. At Tufts University, the elevations and massing of the campus center building are clearly linear; a careful calibration of brick and wood, equally appealing in its subtlety.

Richard P. Dober