Ray Casati with IU Bloomington's Main Library building in the background History, function, trends and future needs all figure into the IU campuses’ individual architectural signatures. What each campus has in common is a reflection of tradition, not a ‘throw-away culture.’

“We decided that, while the Bloomington campus had a rich heritage in collegiate gothic, that the other campuses would be modern in design,” he said. “Each campus has its own personality, and in each expansion, we’ve used materials that to match what is already there.”

IU Kokomo is the only campus that is totally constructed of limestone. At IPFW and IU East, brown brick is trimmed in limestone, while at IU Southeast, red brick dominates. IU Northwest is a mixture of limestone with brick and some pre-cast concrete, and IU South Bend also is a mix of limestone and older brick.

At IUPUI, materials actually define function, with the academic buildings being mostly limestone and those on the medical side of campus a dark reddish-brown brick.

Whether used in abundance or as an accessory, Meadows said that all of the limestone used on IU’s campuses is from Indiana. “We’re a state institution, and it makes sense to use the stone from our own state,” said Meadows. “We had a consultant who wanted to bring in Minnesota limestone for one project, and we said, ‘I don’t think so.’”

Meadows and Ray Casati, university architect emeritus at IU, both mentioned architectural trends. Casati referred to a modern approach, which is to construct a building that will last about as long as its mortgage.

“After 30 years, you just tear the building down,” said Casati. “Europeans view their buildings very differently. I was in Budapest and visited a tiny little church that had been there since the 1400s. It was built as a church and will always be a church. It hadn’t been remade into a gas station or a Burger Chef.

“Buildings represent the culture or traditions of a people, and if we build with a mind of having a building last only 30 years, we are building a throw-away culture.”

Meadows agreed that architectural trends ebb and flow. “I’ve talked with other architects that are using an interesting approach on their campuses, which we are using also. The exterior of a building is designed to last 80 to 100 years, while interiors are designed for a 15-year life. This allows for the renovation and updates necessary, especially for buildings that house technology and research laboratories.”

Both men also said that the art of stonecutting is making a resurgence. “All of the carvers, whose little ‘grotesques’ are all over the old buildings in Bloomington, were immigrants, and it was not unusual to find someone who could do that work,” said Casati, “Very little carving was used after the 1940s, though. Stone carving was no longer taught. But, over the past 20 or so years, it has been making a comeback, and some of the carvers are quite good.”

Once again, stonecutters will find work at IU. According to Meadows, the Multi-disciplinary Science Building at IU Bloom-ington will be built to look as if it’s always been next to Myers Hall. It will feature carvings of turtles and other animals.

The IUB Computation and Information Building also will feature stone carvings, to marry old with new, similar to the way in which IU’s newer campuses complement the oldest one in Bloomington.

“There will be friezes that refer to technology and computer languages,” said Meadows. “The depictions will be unique to our time.”

Planning and design work has begun for a new Campus Center for IUPUI. Check out this and other building projects at this IU Office of the University Architect Web site:

http://www.indiana.edu/~uao/index.html

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