The buildings on the Ohio University campus reflect the long history of the university and the commitment by those in charge over the years to keep the distinctively traditional style that defines the physical campus today.
I think if you look at the history of Ohio University
(officials) have tended to try to maintain a fairly consistent architecture John Kotowski, assistant vice president for facilities planning, said.
Other campuses, such as University of Akron and University of Toledo, tend to be more relaxed with their architecture and have built some contemporary-style buildings, Kotowski said, while OU's goal is to create a campus with a fairly consistent style.
OU President Robert Glidden said keeping consistency in architecture is not as much a problem now as during the 1960s when buildings were going up fast and there was pressure for a modern architectural style.
OU buildings tend to be of stone and brick materials, have small windows and use cupolas as focal points. Georgian is the general campus approach, though Kotowski said style on campus is a hodgepodge.
Buildings on College Green, such as Cutler Hall, are a Federal style of architecture.
President Emeritus Charles J. Ping said Cutler Hall, built in 1816, is the oldest college building on any campus in the Midwest. Ping was president of OU from 1975 to 1994.
In an interview with Robert A. Hynes and Doug McCabe in the book, Vernon R. Alden: An Oral History, Alden said he was determined to preserve the style of Cutler and the other buildings.
He said Harvard architects built residence halls out of concrete slabs to do something different, and he vowed OU would never have a campus broken up that way.
OU officials decided they did not need all campus buildings to strictly follow the Georgian style of architecture but would use mainly brick, glass and white wood. They wanted the campus to appear to be a family of buildings.
Today it is more economical to renovate old buildings than construct anew if a department can fit, Kotowski said.
I've been here as long as I have because this institution has been committed to renovating its older buildings he said.
Three generations of libraries and gymnasiums are still in use on campus; Bentley Hall and Grover Center once were used as gymnasiums, and Scripps and Chubb Halls were used as libraries, Ping said.
Another important element on campus is the scale of the buildings, Kotowski said. Most buildings are three or four stories in height, with a few exceptions, such as Bromley Hall.
He helped construct the Ping Center and said architects tried to incorporate the traditional elements into its form but the scale of the building was a problem when dealing with the traditional style.
The first thing when you start to build bigger buildings
it becomes a real challenge as to how you do that in a traditional design because it's an a-traditional kind of a building because it is so large
Kotowski said.
Kotowski said the buildings, such as Ping Center and The Convo, do not detract from the campus but add variation, while incorporating traditional elements.
Glidden said he has experienced no negative feedback from the new buildings constructed during his tenure at OU.
I think there is less likelihood of criticism of traditionally styled buildings such as ours
particularly when they fit in with the rest of the campus
than one might receive about an extremely modern style
he wrote in the e-mail.
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