Buildings & Grounds icon

Previous

What Does a University Architect Do, Anyway?

Next

Move the Mailboxes, Dig Up the Lawn: Rx for an Ailing Campus Center

March 04, 2008, 10:26 AM ET

Marcel Breuer's 'Monumental Experiment in Concrete Design'

Photograph of the Abbey Church of St. John the Baptist The Abbey Church of St. John the Baptist at Saint John’s University (Photograph by Greg Becker)

In 1953, Saint John’s University, in Minnesota, invited 12 well-known architects to come to Saint John’s and offered them a chance to design a master plan and new buildings for the growing campus and monastery. The monks who ran the university eventually chose Marcel Breuer, whose reputation was chiefly based on designs for modern houses and furniture, including the bent-steel Cesca and Wassily chairs. What resulted was an astonishing collection of Modernist buildings, including the breathtaking Abbey Church of St. John the Baptist. Scott Carlson describes Breuer’s work at the university in our Architecture Issue.

Add Your Comment

Commenting is closed.