Wow Renovation to Philip Shutze's Academy of Medicine

Georgia Tech has bought (or were gifted, I'm not sure how it worked) and renovated the Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech and offers it as an event facility. That is a very fine thing for architecture tourists and for everyone else.

"The new contract clearly stated each architects responsibilities. (R. Kennon) Perry maintained his position as principal architect in charge of working drawings and supervision, (Phillip Trammell) Shutze would design the building." Quote from American Classicist: The Architecture of Philip Trammell Shutze by Elizabeth Meredith Dowling


In 1968 all I knew is that it was a classy building with a front yard on West Peachtree. I lived across the street from the Academy of Medicine (1941) my senior year at Tech. I saw it every single day. I hadn't the slightest idea what they did in there or what it looked like inside.


I was fortunate to attend the grand re-opening on December 15, 2011 and took a few pictures.


This is a per-renovation picture.


Event planning staff and volunteers from Tech showed us around.


Eye's up.


Eyes up again and again.

"In 1980 the entire building was renovated...but Shutze...was not consulted...the sparkling clarity of the original white coloration...is no longer in evidence...." Quote from American Classicist: The Architecture of Philip Trammell Shutze by Elizabeth Meredith Dowling

I think the "sparkling clarity" is back. Don't you? Who managed the restoration? I hope to find out.


The clerestory windows from outside. "...square tower containing coffered semicircular skylights."


I don't know my terms. Aren't these Acroteria?


The entrance hall / foyer / rotunda is uncanny. It feels colossal yet cozy, grand but comfortable, elaborate but reserved. To me a great place can impress without making me feel small.


A little panorama from the rotunda. Eyes up yet again.


The auditorium is to the east, nice place for a wedding.


Columns in antis frame the stage.


From the stage looking towards the rotunda.


Detail of the mirrored sconces and wallpaper in the auditorium. Do you suppose Shutze designed these?


I'm looking across the rotunda towards the north wing and north entrance. There is a library down there, a good place for the bridesmaids to hang out, also a parlor for the bride.


The north entrance from the outside. It rocks.


I'm standing in the library, looking across the hall into the parlor.


Panorama of the library with its fine furnishings. Not a spec of dust.


The stair is in the north wing too. It delighted every glance.


It's just a few steps from the rotunda yet seems part of an immense space.


It's u-shaped with curves galore.


Downstairs is a bit more modest with meeting rooms. Ample space for the groom's party and more. Look in the mirror.


Crawford Long keeps watch down there.


The south wing is a large hall, suitable for the wedding reception and dance. It has this bodacious highly-modeled painting. My other pictures didn't come out very well.


Do you recognize the artist? We don't know.

How about a few outside pictures.


The portico overlooks the only lawn on West Peachtree.


Severe detailing.






Right now you can see the Cavalia tent framed by Midtown highrises.


The north side has a sunken patio for the reception spillover.


It's enclosed with a view of the midtown skyline.


The north entrance again, the parlor is on the right, the library on the left.


The entrance to the rusticated terrace level has plenty of charm.


The auditorium bumps out of the east facade.


The back door with the transom would enter the stage.


Stairs and a ramp lead to the sunken patio.


Now that I've convinced you, I hope you'll invite me to the wedding.

Thanks to Anne Minty and Shawn Stinson, event coordinators for the Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech. They are the ones to call.

To clad Vuiton in Onyx call Michael Ra at Front Inc.

Michael Ra's and Front Inc's specialty is skinning, skinning buildings that is.

Think of all the "starchitects" out there and all those crazy buildings. Somebody has to figure out the skin: How to engineer it, keep the water out, keep it from falling off in hurricanes and earthquakes, how to manufacture it, how to install it, how to maintain it, how to build it on budget on time.

You have to clean the windows and it's very dusty in the UAE.

What if the architect wants Onyx? Call Front Inc.


Lvmn Paradise Building in Osaka by Kengo Kuma + Associates. Photo from Flickr courtesy of Hiromitsu Morimoto.


Michael Ra visited the Georgia Tech College of Architecture this week.

He explained how they did the onyx: Take a sheet of Onyx; clad both sides in glass; slice the onyx in half so that you end of with 2 panels of onyx faced glass. Of course. Why didn't I think of that?


At least the onyx is flat. What if you need curves?

Or curved glass, or glass panels.


In any case you have to design it so it can be manufactured and installed.


You've got to test it. This is the glass "ceiling" for the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum in San Antonio.

I asked Michael how he came to be a skinner. He said that Illinois Institute of Technology is strong in the engineering aspect of architecture. He must have had a knack. One of his instructors hired him right out of school.


He seemed to enjoyed the challenge that resulted in drawings like these as much as he enjoyed finished project.


Isn't specialization limiting? Doesn't is stifle creativity? For Michael, it doesn't seem so. In fact I'm pretty sure that he loves what he's doing.

And if your clients include Richard Meier, Renzo Piano, Frank Ghery and a host of others around the world, how boring can it be?

I was most amused during the Q&A. Folks asked about his firm's "agenda" was it about sustainability, conservation, being green. Micheal said his firm was young and their agenda is "getting it built."

Thanks to Micheal Ra, to Georgia Tech, and to Assistant professor Tristan Al-Haddad and to Professor George Johnson, chair of the School of Architecture for making me feel at home.

Artistic + Good in Math / Jeanne Gang visits Georgia Tech

How is one chosen to design an 82 story building with 1,900,000 square feet of floor space costing $475,000,000 in Chicago?


Aqua Tower Photo: Vincent Desjardins
Design architecture firm: Studio Gang Architects
Architect of record: Loewenberg & Associates

I planned to ask Jeanne myself when she spoke at Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.


This is Jeanne Gang doing Q&A after the lecture. (Jeanne = "Gee-Knee") She's principal & founder of Studio Gang in Chicago. She's a 2011 MacArthur Fellow.

Her firm collaborated on the design of the Aqua Tower. The media credits her.

The College of Architecture brings in international design talent to speak with design students who, like Jeanne, are artistic and good at math. I go to these when I can, I was good in math but...


Fish, Sticks, Birds and Bricks? What about world class skyscrapers?


These are easygoing affairs. Nobody dresses. You need to look like a student or a professor, recent haircut not required. These are at dinner time. For most Tech students it's about 2/3 of the way through a long day.

The "ready to pull a 2nd all-nighter" look is always fashionable in the architecture building.


Introductions.


This is the book cover for Reveal.


Jeanne Gang avoided personal credit for everything. She spoke softly with a warm smile. The passions were in there though, clearly in there. She has a powerful motor running inside.


In an early slide she answered a question nobody would ask about the composition of a female led firm. She said she liked the texture.


The delight of these lectures is the architect's own delight, the unexpected twists and turns.

In this case the issue was how to get a building permit for a brick lattice: a design, engineering, craft, bureaucratic, and political problem.


How do you build with several varieties of donated concrete? It's takes design and calculation.

How do you keep fish alive in Lincoln Park Zoo? How you do prevent birds from smashing into buildings in the Chicago flyway? How do you reverse the Chicago River. How do you revive Cicero?

These are the kind of problems architects attack these days.


Jeanne said that learning architecture is hard enough for artistic students who are good in math. But projects are more challenging than ever. Architects have to engage and excite people across the spectrum.

Finally the skyscraper: she answered my Aqua Tower question before I asked:

The developer wanted somebody who hadn't done a skyscraper, they wanted something different.

We'll have to go see for ourselves.

Just a few forehead slaps from her slides:


Skyscraper skeptics must deal with this argument.


During construction skyscraper climbers sent a picture from the top. Jeanne said they didn't know how they got up there, maybe they climbed up and over on a crane. I'm having bad dreams over this.

Ms. Gang emphasized unexpected vistas that thrill.


Unexpected (to me) diagonal views link people on different floors. You can't people-watch your own building in most skyscrapers.

Thanks to Jeanne Gang and the Georgia Tech College of Architecture. I was fortunate to be there; happy to have captured a few drops from flood

I made some notes.

I followed up on Bruce Mau Design, the firm that built the Studio Gang website. It led me to the "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" which I'd heard of but otherwise had no clue. Epigrammatic fun.

9: Begin anywhere.
John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

21: Repeat yourself.
If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.