The Beauty of Our Campus the University of Colorado Boulder

The Beauty of Our Campus The University of Colorado Boulder Salman Alkandari Final Research Paper ATLS 3519 Salman Alkandari The Beauty of Our Campus The University of Colorado Boulder INTRODUCTION This paper is an informative paper describing the beautiful architectural style of our campus, The University of Colorado Boulder. The campus buildings that are to be discussed are Norlin Library, Old Main, and Macky Auditorium. The design process, building materials and significance and impact of these buildings are additionally explored. I have never been a person who believes in love at first sight. I always thought that time is essential for love. That is until I set my eyes on the beautiful campus of The University of Colorado at Boulder. With the amazing flatirons behind it, and how at every season, the campus changes into another whole amazing scenery. I realized that this splendor is no coincidence, such a beautiful campus wasn’t just created overnight nor was it created without detailed planning, thought, and the ambition of great minds. Great minds who truly thought of the future generations. PEOPLE President George Norlin (Figure 1) is most definitely one of those great minds. Nicknamed The Kindly Professor of Greek, by William Davis, Author of Glory Colorado. Professor George Norlin was acting President of the University for about three years and then by unanimous vote of the Regents, Professor George Norlin was appointed to be the 5th President of the University and served for twenty years from 1919 to 1939. He was also a Greek professor. Even though Professor George Norlin was not an architect, this man’s vision transformed the University. His persistent on perfection is incredible. He doubled the number of students within a few years. Then faced a lot of issues because of capacity-wise and funding, but to every problem he proved a solution right. Right from the book Glory Colorado! From 1876 to 1917, the University had been developed from a “cactus field” to a campus. Under the acting presidency of Dr. Norlin, it began to evolve from a “third-rate farm” to the “campus beautiful.” -Glory Colorado!, Page 261 Professor George Norlin’s work was notable before he was even President. In 1918, Professor George Norlin decided that the University of Colorado campus buildings and grounds needed a new direction. Professor George Norlin’s collaboration with Charles Klauder started a new and an exciting chapter in the University’s History. They transformed the campus entirely. Made it what it is today. President Norlin’s legacy will be long survived. After all Norlin library is named after him. Charles Z Klauder (Figure 2) may be the most underrated person that has had something to do with this University. His work is everywhere we go and we do not even realize it. Some of his work in this University is soon to be a hundred years old. Klauder made a promise when he spoke to the student assembly, the day he visited the University in January 1920. He promised that he would make Colorado’s campus one of the most beautiful in the United States. He fulfilled that promise a very long time ago. This campus is still to this day, one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. Some comments of admirers of the Boulder Campus follows: Ranked 4th in the book “The Campus as a Work of Art” by Thomas A Gaines. His grading system considered such criteria as urban space, architectural quality, landscape, and overall appeal. Salman Alkandari The Beauty of Our Campus The University of Colorado Boulder “… the expansion of this university is the most earnest and the most successful effort in the U.S. today to integrate new buildings with an existing campus.” John Morris Dixon in Architectural Forum, October 1966 “As a young architect, Cabell Childress, author of the new dance building at the University of Colorado, participated in the university’s 1960’s wave of campus expansion and took the occasion to probe its every cranny: It is still, he asserts, the most beautiful of some 154 campuses he has explored.” Margaret Caskie in Architectural Record, October 1984 Later comments come from websites like; buzzfeed.com, bestcollegereviews.org, thebestcolleges.org, colleges.startclass.com, travelandleisure.com, thrillist.com and so much more all rank the University of Colorado’s campus as one of the most beautiful and if not the most beautiful campus in the US. Charles Z Klauder of the firm of Day and Klauder (an architect firm), was a brilliant architect. His work can not only be seen on the University of Colorado’s campus but also in other campuses like, Princeton University, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh and several others. In 1918 Professor George Norlin enlisted Charles Klauder to complete a master plan for the University, which was completed in 1919. Charles Klauder designed fifteen buildings according to his plan that would take place over the next twenty years. The master plan or more known as the “Campus Development Plan” (Figure 4) was supposed to have plans to accommodate up to 3,000 students, about double of the number of students at the time, and to also prepare building plans for a liberal arts building, a men’s gymnasium, the library, and a chemistry building. Charles Klauder drew his first sketches of these buildings in the English Collegiate Gothic style. Similar to his style in his previous work at Princeton University and Wellesley College. Charles Klauder also constructed a model (figure 3 if available) of the “Campus Development Plan” and he modified it over the years. The constructed model has also been preserved to this date and is currently at the CU Heritage Center in Old Main. He then further changed the plan to a new architectural style of his own invention, one that fits the Boulder campus more. The style of his own invention was described as “Italian Vernacular Revival Style” but Charles Klauder refused to give it a name. He referred to the style simple as “The University of Colorado Style”, then over the years it was informally called the “Rural Italian” but later it was defined as “Tuscan Vernacular Style” because it seemed more descriptive. The Legend, Charles Z. Klauder died in October, 1938, while finishing up his work drawings for the University Faculty Club building which is now named University Club. He even though he has past away in October, 1938, three buildings were constructed after his death that are, University Club building, Norlin Library, and McKenna Languages which had the original building name as McKenna Addition. Charles Z. Klauder’s firm dissolved shortly after his death, and the successor firm, Trautwein and Howard, took on to produce buildings on the University of Colorado campus through the 1940s and 1950s that many believe were truly uninspired. By the 190s it was obvious that the building designs had no deep though, care or fine details. It simply missed the Charles Klauders touch and passion. A lot went on after the death of two great men in the University. Several factors led to the thought of bringing up a new master plan to replace the 1919 plan, the “Campus Development Plan”. (Which is the stupidest thought ever) Most of these designs lacked good design quality. Administrators realized the they need to bring back that inspired visual spirit that Salman Alkandari The Beauty of Our Campus The University of Colorado Boulder Professor George Norlin and Charles Z. Klauder had brought to the campus some forty years earlier. President Quigg Newton and his administration, from 1956 to 1963, has basically said enough is enough. The time was ripe for revitalizing campus architectural quality as envisioned by Klauder and Norlin. That was the time when admintrators and many respectable architects have come together to find a solution to bring the spirit back. In early 1960, the planning firm of Sasaki, Walker, and Associates, headed by Hideo Sasaki, chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and consulting architect Pietro Belluschi, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were hired. There task that was given to them by the Joint Planning Committee was to prepare a new “Campus Development Plan” that would sustain Charles Z. Klauder’s design principles, materials, and humanistic spirit but also to allow for incorporation for new ideas and forms. Charles Klauder’s design concepts have continued to guide on new projects from the 1970s on to this day. Architectural Design This topic has been talked about above and maybe even a lot more below because of how important it is. The University of Colorado’s Architectural style is now influenced by the now famous style invented by Charles Z. Klauder the “Tuscan Vernacular Style” but that was not always the case. The very first buildings on campus were designed using a variety of architectural styles popular at the time including Richardsonian Romanesque Revival, neoclassical, and American renaissance. More Architectural styles such as Second Empire, Gothic, Romanesque, Victorian and Victorian gingerbread can be found within the Norlin Quadrangle. The University Design Review Board is in charge of major designs to the University of Colorado’s Campus, they are overseen by the University’s President. The University Design Review Board, and several officials of the University has decided from the 1970s that they will use Charles Z. Klaudes work to guide future building designs which they are doing to this day. The University goes out very carefully to pick out architects who could deliver on that. Most project architects underestimate the challenge of using Charles Z.

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