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a guidebook to modern architecture in the pioneer valley images, history, and criticism of 25 modern buildings from the pioneer valley of western massachusetts a guidebook to modern architecture in the pioneer valley images, history, and criticism of 25 modern buildings from the pioneer valley of western massachusetts This book sets out to explore how and why particular architectural spaces evoke different feelings of happiness, security, or uneasiness. Why would an architectural journal- ist describe Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Taliesin” as sitting atop the landscape like a “shining brow”? What types of visual mark- ers make Amherst College memorable, and create such a strong sense of place for student and faculty alike? Through class discussion, close readings, and field trips, we have explored a broad range of emotional linkages to architecture: the response of architecture to topography; the distinctions between the sacred, civic, and personal domains; the evolu- tion of culture through the dual modes of style and building type; and the ways in which human beings generate a sense of place. Introduction This architectural guidebook is intended to highlight the many significant and unique buildings within the Pioneer Valley region. The Pioneer Valley is a string of historic settle- ments along the Connecticut River from Springfield in the south to the Vermont border in the north. The northern reach- es of the Pioneer Valley remain rural and tranquil, dappled with small farms and towns defined by typical New England style architecture – functional, tidy homes and commercial buildings surrounding modest town centers. To the south, the cities of Holyoke and Springfield are more industrial and congested. The book is the result of a semester-long study of 20th century architecture and a collaborative effort by the students, who wrote, edited, designed and produced it. It is the first guidebook to the architecture of this fascinating and unusual region. We explored how buildings not only shape the physi- cal structure of our communities, but also the way we live our lives. The framework we relied on for this exploration includ- ed masterworks by Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Louis Kahn, Frank Gehry and others. Study- ing individual buildings and architectural movements yielded concrete examples of how space, place, form, materials, and money influence the outcome of architectural efforts. The Pioneer Valley remains a remarkable collection of works by some of the most influential and most histori- cally significant architects of 19th and 20th century buildings. From the Fine Arts Center building at the University of Mas- sachusetts to our very own King and Wieland dormitories, the unique design and innovation of these buildings will continue to capture the imagination. We hope this book will broaden the reader’s under- standing of how space is defined and encourage you to look twice at your surroundings. The guidebook explores some of the region’s most significant institutional buildings and hous- es, both large and small. Each entry includes a photograph, an identifying number keyed to a tour map, as well as histori- cal, descriptive, and critical commentary. The broad range of buildings and urban conditions that this guidebook documents will appeal to historic preservationists, scholars of twentieth- century material culture, architects, historians, and tourists. Koch Science Center Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA Architect: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Architects Year Completed: 2007 The David H. Koch Center for Science, Math and Technology is the newest building at Deerfield Acad- emy, nested in Historic Deerfield, MA. The 78,000 square foot structure was designed by architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and completed in May 2007. Brick and glass are the primary materials used for its exterior. A state-of-the-art building for the sciences, its facilities include modern labs and classrooms, a large lecture hall, a planetarium and a roof terrace. In addition, the dining areas in the atrium and study nooks throughout the building facilitate social activities. Situated in the heart of historic Deerfield, the Koch Science Center, whose very nature would appear to defy the colonial tradition of the area, integrates itself beautifully. A hundred yard winding path leads up to the entrance of the building, and similar but smaller paths precede other entrances, anchoring the building to the ground. The exterior and interior walls of the building mimic these paths, creating an uninterrupted flow from outdoors to indoors. The front entrance lunges forward with curved vertical planes but also beckons and allows one to see its in- sides with massive glass windows. The entrance to the building is entirely glass, allowing an immense amount of light to fill its lobby. A curving hallway leads directly into the main circular atrium, from which all three lev- els are visible. The focal center of the atrium is the analemma- a figure eight pattern formed by mapping the shadow of an object everyday for a year. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill is one of the larg- est architectural firms in the world, acclaimed for its work in the international style or “glass box” skyscraper. True to the international style, the Koch Science Center is a very dynamic space. Its exterior has many intersecting planes, and its interior is full of gently curving walls. Al- though the Koch Science Center represents a departure from the traditional glass box, the influence is evident. The Koch Center uses more brick than most of SOM’s other buildings. For example, Harvard’s Northwest Sci- ence Center, which serves a similar functional purpose, has a predominantly glass exterior. Still, many themes of the glass box are prevalent in the Koch Center. The building is bound by light. It incorporates sun and moonlight to serve both functional and academic purposes. Every hallway in the building terminates with a large glass window and every room uses large glass walls (75% of the building lighting is natural). This creates the perception of being in a glass box. The use of light complements all of the sciences of the building: namely physics and astronomy. The analemma in the atrium provides students with a sense of the relationship between the sun and the earth (as does the sun calendar outside the building). Here again, light is manipulated in the architecture to serve an academic purpose. Sustainable design was a priority of the design team. The Koch Science Center was awarded a Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating for its design and function as a green building. The frame was constructed with 90 percent recycled scrap steel. The million bricks that were used were produced from local materials. Radiant heating coils embedded in the floor keep the concrete warm in the winter, thus reducing the need for heating. The double-insulated glass windows keep heat inside the building, allowing sunlight to warm the space, and reducing the need for electric light during the day. Additionally, the design team took great care to recycle materials during the construction process. 90 percent of the demolished building and 85 percent of site waste produced during construction were recycled. Established in 1797, Deerfield Academy has a long standing tradition of academic excellence. Though the available technologies to enhance students’ education are bound to change, the approach that the school takes to that education is not. The terminal hallways that end in wall-sized glass windows, looking out on paths below that continue the line of the hallway propel you forward, insisting (literally) that there are paths to be followed outside of the classroom. The massive central space, from which all three floors are visible, the star map on both the ceiling and the floor, and the sun calendar outside the building, are all constant reminders of our place in the universe. As a science building at an elite preparatory school, forward motion and awareness could not be better guiding virtues. The building stays brutally true to these values but in no way compromises the comfort of students or the ordinary life that occurs in the building. Lining the paths leading up the building and braced to most walls within it are hip high benches for contemplation and conversation. At every turn there are study nooks, not bound by strict corners or stubborn doors but by the natural curve of walls. There are even such spaces in the stairwells. The classrooms that house the top rate education of Deerfield defy the strict regiment of a typical education. Six-person desk clusters line the perimeter of the room, leaving a large open space for lectures and demonstrations. Further, the walls separating classrooms and offices from the hallway are made of selectively transparent glass. Looking squarely at the glass one can see through it but looking sideways the glass appears a porcelain sheet. This feature may not be welcomed by administrators and teachers seeking a moment away from the gaze of their students, but is instrumental in making the building into a larger unified space rather than a disconnected and compartmentalized one. Though designed to encourage academics in every way, the building concedes that its residents are young adults with lives outside the classroom. On the bottom floor is a snack bar (whose cookies are enor- mous and a paltry seventy-three cents) and cafeteria space perfect for a bite between classes or a meal with a professor. Balconies on the upper floors peer out onto the main quadrangle and the athletic complex, situating students not just in the universe but on the Deerfield campus. This kind of balance between virtue and everyday experience creates a truly holistic learning experience, a building, that as Deerfield hoped, teaches students when no teacher is present.

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