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Q: University architecture - with a library that looks like an open book etc ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: University architecture - with a library that looks like an open book etc
Category: Arts and Entertainment > Visual Arts
Asked by: ed3-ga
List Price: $15.00
Posted: 28 Nov 2003 10:54 PST
Expires: 28 Dec 2003 10:54 PST
Question ID: 281419
There is a university - I think in the uk, but I'm not sure - which
has marvellously odd architectural design, where the university
library, for example, looks like an enormous open book - you enter
through the end of the 'spine', if I remember correctly - and another
building (possibly the art or design block) resembles a huge camera. 
I think all concrete buildings, I think approximately 1960s.  I need
details please, at the very least which university and which architect
- a full critical appreciation of the campus would be great, but I
suspect beyond the scope of the web...  Thanks.

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 28 Nov 2003 11:53 PST
Hi ed3-ga,

The ASU law library looks like an open book and it has a music
building that looks like a wedding cake.

?The campus of ASU has a music building that looks like a wedding cake
and a library that looks like an open book.?
http://www.funtastikarizona.com/Tempe/TempeToDo.html

?Arizona State University University Drive & Mill Avenue,
480-965-9011, Founded in 1885, this magnificent university enrolls the
largest student population in the Southwest and features incredible
buildings including The Law Library that is designed to look like an
open book and is second only to Harvard's law library. Another feature
of the university is the Old Main, ASU's oldest architectural gem,
where President Theodore Roosevelt once gave a speech.?
http://www.discoverourtown.com/TownPage.php?Town=1225&Cat=Business

They say that viewed from above the Goddard Library at Clark
University looks like an open book.

?The Goddard Library at Clark University in Worcester, MA , was
designed by John Johansen in 1969 and won awards for its unique
architectural design: campus folklore says that viewed from above, the
building looks like an open book. The library has more than 530,000
volumes and more than 2,200 periodicals.?
http://www.clarku.edu/prospective/undergrads/virtual/goddard/goddard.shtml


Could one of these libraries be what you had in mind?

Thanks
Bobbie7

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 29 Nov 2003 21:03 PST
Hello ed3-ga,

I think I?ve found the campus you?re looking for. I believe it is the
University of Sussex at Falmer. This school was built in the 1960s.
Many of the campus buildings were designed by Sir Basil Spence in a
somewhat whimsical style.

I?m posting my answer as a comment until you notify me that this is
definitely the institution you?re looking for. I?ve included a lot of
photos to make sure that you get the full impact of the design.

I look forward to your clarification.

~ czh ~
Answer  
Subject: Re: University architecture - with a library that looks like an open book etc
Answered By: czh-ga on 30 Nov 2003 20:47 PST
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Hello ed3-ga,

I?m convinced that the University of Sussex at Falmer is the school
with a ?marvellously odd architectural design? that you?re looking
for. It was difficult to find, but I think it definitely matches your
description.

I tried many different search combinations to find your library shaped
like an open book but I wasn?t finding anything on a campus. I
discovered that buildings shaped like the function they fulfilled are
called ?mimetic architecture.? I found lots of examples of this type
of buildings in the United States but I wasn?t getting anywhere with
finding English examples.

I finally had a breakthrough when I searched on < English architecture
1960s > and discovered that there were some very interesting
developments in English architecture at that time. One of the articles
I found listed several architects who were especially active and
mentioned Sir Basil Spence as the architect of some unusual design
buildings at the University of Sussex at Falmer. When I looked up the
campus architecture I was able to confirm that it was very
distinctive. I?ve collected a big selection of photographs to
illustrate my findings. I had been looking for the primitive style of
mimetic architecture that I?m familiar with from California but
instead I found some beautiful but very striking buildings on the
University of Sussex campus.

You can see an open book if you look at the library at a certain
angle. You can visualize a camera while gazing at the Gardner Arts
Centre. Many of the other buildings are also very evocative.

The Library
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode10.html
The Gardner Arts Centre
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/campustour/gardner.html

I?ve included some background information about English architecture
in the 1960s and about the work of Sir Basil Spence in particular. I
hope you will find this information useful.

If I?m on the wrong track, please ask for clarification. 

Enjoy!

~ czh ~



=================================
ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE OF THE 1960S
=================================

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,973498,00.html
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,9830,973500,00.html
Concrete and glass of 60s to join dreaming spires on heritage list 
Jonathan Glancey
Monday June 9, 2003
The Guardian

There was a cultural revolution in British universities in the 60s and
in few fields of creative endeavour was this expressed more vigorously
than in architecture. Sir Basil Spence set the stone - and concrete -
rolling with his ambitious, pop baroque designs for the University of
Sussex at Falmer, near Brighton. His inspiration was the
late-flowering work of Le Corbusier, but with a sense of humour gurned
into the mix.

University of Sussex, Brighton, from 1960. Sir Basil Spence, architect
of Coventry cathedral, gave his imagination full stretch; whimsy,
grace and intelligence playfully interwoven


============================
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX, FALMER
============================

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/about/
http://www.cein.net/cgi-bin/en/company_info.asp?CID=317
About the University of Sussex

The University of Sussex was the first of the new wave of universities
founded in the 1960s, receiving its Royal Charter in August 1961.
Forty years on, the University has become a leading teaching and
research institution, characterised by a number of academic strengths
including research excellence, internationalism and
interdisciplinarity.

Campus life
Sussex is the only university in England which is entirely located in
a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Situated on the edge
of the Sussex Downs, the University campus is like a large,
self-contained village, with lecture theatres, seminar rooms,
libraries, labs, accommodation, restaurants, bars, shops and sports
facilities all within easy walking distance. Just a few minutes away
is the lively, friendly seaside town of Brighton with its great
leisure facilities and its rich, eclectic cultural life.

Designed in the main by Sir Basil Spence, the campus buildings include
Falmer House, which won one of the coveted medals of the Royal
Institute of British Architects in the year it opened (1962) and the
striking circular Meeting House based on the design of the traditional
oast house which won a Civic Trust award in 1969. In 1993, the
buildings which make up the core of Sir Basil Spence's original design
were given listed building status. Falmer House was one of only two
educational buildings in the UK to be given Grade 1 status of
"exceptional interest".

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.postgraduk.com/Adverts/PG_AD8930.htm
The University of Sussex
A stunning environment
Sussex boasts one of the most beautiful and picturesque campuses in
Britain. Located in rolling parkland on the edge of Brighton, the
campus combines award-winning modern architecture and green open
spaces...

***** Site includes some images of interesting architecture.


=============================
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX - IMAGES
=============================

Campus Tour
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/campustour/index.html

The Library
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode10.html

Arts A steps
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode8.html
Arts C arch
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode7.html

Falmer House
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode6.html
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode12.html
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode4.html
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode2.html
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/central/graphics/photos/arch7.jpg
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/campustour/ussu.html

The Gardner Arts Centre
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode5.html
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/campustour/gardner.html
http://www.markreeves.co.uk/html/htmldigital/gardner_centre_03.html

The Meeting House
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode3.html
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/duncanmcneill/brightonsarchitecture/69.html
http://www.c20society.demon.co.uk/docs/building/meeting.html
A colour filled 20th Century meditational ?shrine? in the heart of
Sussex: Basil Spence?s Meeting House on the grounds of the University
of Sussex

The COGS Building
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode1.html

The Boiler House
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode11.html

Postgraduate accommodation
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode14.html

The Basil Spence Memorial Folly
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode9.html


================
SIR BASIL SPENCE
================

http://www.artsworld.com/art-architecture/biographies/s-u/spence-basil-urwin.html
Biography -- Basil Urwin Spence 
Architect
England
Born 13 Aug 1907 
Died 19 Nov 1976

------------------------------------------------------


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/life/story/0,6903,425763,00.html
Sunday January 21, 2001
Celebrity squares

As a student, the architect John Pardey developed a passion for Sir
Basil Spence's Coventry Cathedral. Although the rebuilt cathedral,
completed in 1962, was the British public's favourite building of the
20th century (according to a survey by English Heritage), its creator
is nowadays largely dismissed and vilified. While his other buildings
include the Sussex University Meeting House and the Beehive (the
executive wing of the New Zealand parliament) in Wellington, his name
is largely associated with concrete monstrosities of the 60s. Yet, in
Pardey's eyes, Spence managed to fuse 'romantic with modernism'. 'At
his best,' he says, 'Spence made things poetic.'

-------------------------------------------------


http://wcc.govt.nz/wellington/heritage/inventory/pg58.html
THE BEEHIVE, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
Architect: Sir Basil Spence. Date of Construction: 1970.



====================
MIMETIC ARCHITECTURE
====================

http://www.lib.umd.edu/NTL/glossary.html
Glossary of Selected Index Terms 

Architecture, Mimetic: Characterized by a cartoonish element or
caricature, mimetic architecture imitates a character, animal, or
object not usually used for buildings. Lucy, the large pink
elephant-shaped building on the Jersey Shore, is an example of Mimetic
Architecture, as is the Brown Derby.

--------------------------------------------------------


http://www.lukecole.com/Roadside%20Attractions/Roadside%20Attractions.htm
Luke's Roadside Attractions

-----------------------------------------------------


http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi799.htm
MIMETIC ARCHITECTURE


================================
LIBRARY SHAPED LIKE AN OPEN BOOK
================================

http://archive.ala.org/alonline/news/1998/981102.html
Striking Staff at French National Library Claim Impossible Conditions
President Jacques Chirac has called the multibillion-dollar building,
designed by architect Dominique Perrault with four glass towers shaped
like open books, an "extravagant folly" unfit for its purpose.

----------------------------------------------------


http://www.abbedon.com/electricminds/html/wwj_paris_2448.html
making history at france's new national library

Predictably, a number of these Great Works have been embroiled in
controversy; the new library, which opened last December, is no
exception. For the project, Mitterrand chose 36-year old Dominique
Perrault from a final group of four architects selected by a jury from
250 applicants. In a simple but monumental arrangement, Perrault chose
to erect four 250-foot towers shaped like open books. These rise high
above a rectangular base that harbors an enclosed garden of exotic
trees. Highly opinionated Parisians have had a field day criticizing
this unconventional design.

---------------------------------------------------------


http://users.bigpond.net.au/dacapo/image/libraryA.jpg
LibraryA.jpg


---------------------------------------------------------


http://french.esfsall.net/temporary%20documents/Paris/BC_0004.JPG
The recently built National Library

---------------------------------------------------------


http://www.sweetfancymoses.com/amati_kon3-1.htm
Konstantinople ? A New Novel by Matt Amati
Chapter Three: Beard and Book

The University grounds were well kept, trimmed smooth with impossible
bushes that had to have been the victims of topiary, unless it should
be the case that the eminent residents of the Botany department should
have discovered the elusive method by which bushes may be induced to
grow in the shapes of teddy bears and manticores. Each university
building was shaped like an enormous book, open halfway with its spine
in the air.



===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============

university building shaped like open book
library shaped like open book
building "shaped like a camera"
english architecture 1960s
Sir Basil Spence University of Sussex
ed3-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
Thank you, everyone.  I particularly appreciated the context of the
answer, the additional information provided.

Comments  
Subject: Re: University architecture - with a library that looks like an open book etc
From: czh-ga on 29 Nov 2003 21:03 PST
 
Hello ed3-ga,

I tried many different search combinations to find your library shaped
like an open book but I wasn?t finding anything on a campus. I
discovered that buildings shaped like the function they fulfilled are
called ?mimetic architecture.? I found lots of examples of this type
of buildings in the United States but I wasn?t getting anywhere with
finding English examples.

I finally had a breakthrough when I searched on < English architecture
1960s > and discovered that there were some very interesting
developments in English architecture at that time. One of the articles
I found listed several architects who were especially active and
mentioned Sir Basil Spence as the architect of some unusual design
buildings at the University of Sussex at Falmer. When I looked up the
campus architecture I was able to confirm that it was very
distinctive. I?ve collected a big selection of photographs to
illustrate my findings. I had been looking for the primitive style of
mimetic architecture that I?m familiar with from California but
instead I found some beautiful but very striking buildings on the
University of Sussex campus.

You can see an open book if you look at the library at a certain
angle. You can visualize a camera while gazing at the Gardner Arts
Centre. Many of the other buildings are also very evocative.

The Library
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode10.html
The Gardner Arts Centre
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/campustour/gardner.html

I?ve included some background information about English architecture
in the 1960s and about the work of Sir Basil Spence in particular. I
hope you will find this information useful.

If I?m on the wrong track, please ask for clarification. 

Enjoy!

~ czh ~



=================================
ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE OF THE 1960S
=================================

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,973498,00.html
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,9830,973500,00.html
Concrete and glass of 60s to join dreaming spires on heritage list 
Jonathan Glancey
Monday June 9, 2003
The Guardian

There was a cultural revolution in British universities in the 60s and
in few fields of creative endeavour was this expressed more vigorously
than in architecture. Sir Basil Spence set the stone - and concrete -
rolling with his ambitious, pop baroque designs for the University of
Sussex at Falmer, near Brighton. His inspiration was the
late-flowering work of Le Corbusier, but with a sense of humour gurned
into the mix.

University of Sussex, Brighton, from 1960. Sir Basil Spence, architect
of Coventry cathedral, gave his imagination full stretch; whimsy,
grace and intelligence playfully interwoven


============================
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX, FALMER
============================

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/about/
http://www.cein.net/cgi-bin/en/company_info.asp?CID=317
About the University of Sussex

The University of Sussex was the first of the new wave of universities
founded in the 1960s, receiving its Royal Charter in August 1961.
Forty years on, the University has become a leading teaching and
research institution, characterised by a number of academic strengths
including research excellence, internationalism and
interdisciplinarity.

Campus life
Sussex is the only university in England which is entirely located in
a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Situated on the edge
of the Sussex Downs, the University campus is like a large,
self-contained village, with lecture theatres, seminar rooms,
libraries, labs, accommodation, restaurants, bars, shops and sports
facilities all within easy walking distance. Just a few minutes away
is the lively, friendly seaside town of Brighton with its great
leisure facilities and its rich, eclectic cultural life.

Designed in the main by Sir Basil Spence, the campus buildings include
Falmer House, which won one of the coveted medals of the Royal
Institute of British Architects in the year it opened (1962) and the
striking circular Meeting House based on the design of the traditional
oast house which won a Civic Trust award in 1969. In 1993, the
buildings which make up the core of Sir Basil Spence's original design
were given listed building status. Falmer House was one of only two
educational buildings in the UK to be given Grade 1 status of
"exceptional interest".

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.postgraduk.com/Adverts/PG_AD8930.htm
The University of Sussex
A stunning environment
Sussex boasts one of the most beautiful and picturesque campuses in
Britain. Located in rolling parkland on the edge of Brighton, the
campus combines award-winning modern architecture and green open
spaces...

***** Site includes some images of interesting architecture.


=============================
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX - IMAGES
=============================

Campus Tour
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/campustour/index.html

The Library
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode10.html

Arts A steps
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode8.html
Arts C arch
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode7.html

Falmer House
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode6.html
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode12.html
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode4.html
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode2.html
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/central/graphics/photos/arch7.jpg
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/campustour/ussu.html

The Gardner Arts Centre
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode5.html
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/campustour/gardner.html
http://www.markreeves.co.uk/html/htmldigital/gardner_centre_03.html

The Meeting House
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode3.html
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/duncanmcneill/brightonsarchitecture/69.html
http://www.c20society.demon.co.uk/docs/building/meeting.html
A colour filled 20th Century meditational ?shrine? in the heart of
Sussex: Basil Spence?s Meeting House on the grounds of the University
of Sussex

The COGS Building
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode1.html

The Boiler House
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode11.html

Postgraduate accommodation
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode14.html

The Basil Spence Memorial Folly
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/nlp/misc/campus/campusnode9.html


================
SIR BASIL SPENCE
================

http://www.artsworld.com/art-architecture/biographies/s-u/spence-basil-urwin.html
Biography -- Basil Urwin Spence 
Architect
England
Born 13 Aug 1907 
Died 19 Nov 1976

------------------------------------------------------


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/life/story/0,6903,425763,00.html
Sunday January 21, 2001
Celebrity squares

As a student, the architect John Pardey developed a passion for Sir
Basil Spence's Coventry Cathedral. Although the rebuilt cathedral,
completed in 1962, was the British public's favourite building of the
20th century (according to a survey by English Heritage), its creator
is nowadays largely dismissed and vilified. While his other buildings
include the Sussex University Meeting House and the Beehive (the
executive wing of the New Zealand parliament) in Wellington, his name
is largely associated with concrete monstrosities of the 60s. Yet, in
Pardey's eyes, Spence managed to fuse 'romantic with modernism'. 'At
his best,' he says, 'Spence made things poetic.'

-------------------------------------------------


http://wcc.govt.nz/wellington/heritage/inventory/pg58.html
THE BEEHIVE, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
Architect: Sir Basil Spence. Date of Construction: 1970.



====================
MIMETIC ARCHITECTURE
====================

http://www.lib.umd.edu/NTL/glossary.html
Glossary of Selected Index Terms 

Architecture, Mimetic: Characterized by a cartoonish element or
caricature, mimetic architecture imitates a character, animal, or
object not usually used for buildings. Lucy, the large pink
elephant-shaped building on the Jersey Shore, is an example of Mimetic
Architecture, as is the Brown Derby.

--------------------------------------------------------


http://www.lukecole.com/Roadside%20Attractions/Roadside%20Attractions.htm
Luke's Roadside Attractions

-----------------------------------------------------


http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi799.htm
MIMETIC ARCHITECTURE


================================
LIBRARY SHAPED LIKE AN OPEN BOOK
================================

http://archive.ala.org/alonline/news/1998/981102.html
Striking Staff at French National Library Claim Impossible Conditions
President Jacques Chirac has called the multibillion-dollar building,
designed by architect Dominique Perrault with four glass towers shaped
like open books, an "extravagant folly" unfit for its purpose.

----------------------------------------------------


http://www.abbedon.com/electricminds/html/wwj_paris_2448.html
making history at france's new national library

Predictably, a number of these Great Works have been embroiled in
controversy; the new library, which opened last December, is no
exception. For the project, Mitterrand chose 36-year old Dominique
Perrault from a final group of four architects selected by a jury from
250 applicants. In a simple but monumental arrangement, Perrault chose
to erect four 250-foot towers shaped like open books. These rise high
above a rectangular base that harbors an enclosed garden of exotic
trees. Highly opinionated Parisians have had a field day criticizing
this unconventional design.

---------------------------------------------------------


http://users.bigpond.net.au/dacapo/image/libraryA.jpg
LibraryA.jpg


---------------------------------------------------------


http://french.esfsall.net/temporary%20documents/Paris/BC_0004.JPG
The recently built National Library

---------------------------------------------------------


http://www.sweetfancymoses.com/amati_kon3-1.htm
Konstantinople ? A New Novel by Matt Amati
Chapter Three: Beard and Book

The University grounds were well kept, trimmed smooth with impossible
bushes that had to have been the victims of topiary, unless it should
be the case that the eminent residents of the Botany department should
have discovered the elusive method by which bushes may be induced to
grow in the shapes of teddy bears and manticores. Each university
building was shaped like an enormous book, open halfway with its spine
in the air.



===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============

university building shaped like open book
library shaped like open book
building "shaped like a camera"
english architecture 1960s
Sir Basil Spence University of Sussex

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