Prominent building and landscape architects from around the country met at an Architecture School symposium this weekend to discuss how the physical structure of the college campus is unique in the world of architecture.
The two-day Woltz Symposium was designed to incorporate the Architecture School's two design departments, building and landscape architecture.
Professors from Syracuse, Stanford and Arizona State universities joined local University professors as guest lecturers.
"There is great power in physical space to build community," said symposium co-chairwoman Beth Meyer in her opening remarks on Saturday. "There was a draw to the Lawn after the events occurring on Sept. 11, but this past week the Lawn operated in a different manner as children trick-or-treated there for Halloween."
Meyer is an associate professor of landscape architecture.
The meaning of physical space and architectural structures on American college campuses was examined in terms of social identity, religious and racial identity throughout the symposium.
The participants examined college campuses because they provide strong examples of places where landscape and architecture take on significant meaning in creating community, atmosphere and identity, Meyer said. "A number of us in the Architecture School were aware that there has been an incredible body of contemporary work on college campuses worth introducing to our students."
Fourth-year Architecture student Rhiannon Kaye said the symposium emphasized the roles of various architects in shaping campuses.
"The symposium taught me more about the different roles of people in the design process of college campuses," said Kaye, who attended several sessions on both days of the program.
Third-year Architecture student Dana Caelho said she was surprised by the historical emphasis in the symposium. Several sessions of the symposium were led by architecture historians, including Richard Guy Wilson and Lisa Reilley, who both are University professors.
The Woltz symposium is endowed by the late John Elliott Woltz, father of Architecture School alumnus Thomas Woltz.
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