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Academic Centers for Athletes Draw Donors
More than a dozen university athletics programs have added lavish new facilities in recent years, and academic-services budgets are soaring, a Chronicle survey finds. (Photograph courtesy of Texas A&M U.)
College Employees Value Campus Environment, Survey Finds
When a Chronicle survey asked college employees what they value about their jobs, they put the physical environment in which they work at the top of the list.
Rise in Tornadoes, Floods Poses Risk to Colleges
What if the sort of extreme weather that has left the University of Iowa inundated in floodwaters is not a freak event? What if it is a sign of things to come? (Photograph by AP Images)
Other News
After Hurricane Gustav, Campuses Clean Up
Cleanup crews scoured Gulf Coast campuses, removing downed limbs and repairing broken windows, while students and staff members forced out by Hurricane Gustav waited for word that they could return.
Lessons From Katrina Improve Colleges' Evacuations for Hurricane Gustav
College officials across the Gulf Coast were cautiously relieved when initial reports suggested the damage wasn't severe.
College of Southern Idaho Cafeteria Goes 'Tray-Less'
Students are also wasting less food because they no longer have the option of overloading their cafeteria trays, says the college's food-services director.
New campus buildings
Multimedia
A Green Building as a Billboard for Science
(A 2006 Chronicle video)
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About Buildings & Grounds
Buildings & Grounds is written by Scott Carlson (left) and Lawrence Biemiller (right). Scott Carlson writes about architecture, facilties, energy, and sustainability, among other topics. Lawrence Biemiller writes about architecture and facilities and contributes to Notes from Academe. What's happening on your campus? Let us know.
How Emory U. Got Its 'Calico' Buildings
The original buildings at Emory U. are clad in interlocking tiles of pink and gray marble, most from local quarries. (Photographs by Xinmin Li)
Atlanta — “They didn’t have a hell of a lot of money, but they had connections and taste,” began Jen Fabrick, university architect at Emory University, telling the story of how Emory’s founders gave the campus its distinctive gray and pink marble-clad buildings.
“They asked [Frederick Law] Olmsted‘s firm who would be a good master planner for the campus, and that’s how [Henry] Hornbostel was introduced. He came down here … and said the hills and ravines reminded him of an Italian hill town, so he decided the campus needed a hill-town Italian look.
“Emory wanted him to start all these projects, but there wasn’t a lot of money. So he went up to North Georgia, where the marble quarries are. And when you go to the marble quarries, they bring out the marble in blocks and they saw the marble into slabs. Then the slabs are used to cut into the actual pieces. Well, he saw all these slab remnants there, and he said, ‘I’ll just buy all of them, because I can get those cheaper than I can get new fresh material.’ There is no difference — marble lasts forever.
“So he brought them to the campus and he had people cut them into pieces. That’s how we got that calico pattern — I call it a calico pattern…. He just came up with these patterns based on the array of marble that he had. I’ve always wanted to sit down and figure out what the pattern is….
“There is a lot of marble in North Georgia, in Tate. The thing is, the quarries have been bought and re-bought and leased over the years, so we’ve had to learn to work with different groups. At some times, the quarries were closed, and we had to go to Portugal to get marble that is similar.
“The pink marble is called Etowah — that’s Indian. And the gray marble is called Cherokee White or Cherokee Gray….
“The problem right now is the pink marble quarry is not operating. It’s full of water, and it’s bounded on two sides by a river and a railroad track. So you either have to move the river or you have to move the railroad track to do more quarrying.”
She noted that the quarry is leaning toward moving the river. —Scott Carlson
Comments
Previous: Art & Architecture Building Renovations Approach Completion at Yale U.
Next: Cost for U. of Utah's Natural-History Museum Climbs $33-Million
Now there’s an interesting report and some interesting-looking buildings. As many times as I’ve been to Atlanta, I have never gone out to Emory. This posting has motivated me to correct that oversight.
— S. Britchky May 22, 12:16 PM #
I think there’s a “had” missing from the opening of this article:
“They didn’t have a hell of a lot of money, but they HAD connections and taste,” began Jen Fabrick…
(And from that first picture, at least, I agree—they did have good taste.)
— dpc May 22, 04:11 PM #
I added the missing “had” — thanks. — Lawrence Biemiller
— Lawrence Biemiller May 22, 04:16 PM #
I felt I had to say that if you had not added that had, I would have had to, well, do what I had to do!
Sorry!
Emory is indeed a beautiful campus, and I have enjoyed my many visits there over the years.
— pablo May 22, 05:28 PM #
I work on the Emory campus and am in awe of these buildings. Actually I work next door to two such “calico” building which were recently connected to a new building, which isn’t quite the same calico but is pink and white marble. See this link for a picture:
http://whsc.emory.edu/presskits_som_gallery.cfm
Wendy
— Wendy Darling May 23, 02:00 PM #