User:Jamahall/Knowlton School of Architecture

The Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture is an administrative unit within the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The school is comprised of three academic sections: architecture, landscape architecture, and city and regional planning. Each section offers undergraduate and graduate programs of study to a combined student population of nearly 900 students.

History
Professor Joseph Nelson Bradford suggested architecture as an appropriate university offering as early as 1888, and in the catalog of 1896-97 a course in architecture was listed under Drawing. In 1900 the course in architecture was extended to a full four-year curriculum leading to the degree Bachelor of Civil Engineering in Architecture. The first graduate to receive this degree was John William Peterson in 1903. Peterson's thesis was titled "The Design of a Theater." He later became a structural engineer for the American Bridge Company in Canton, Ohio. In 1904, the second and third graduates were Florence Elizabeth Hite and Charles St. John Chubb.

The Ohio State University's program in architecture is the fourteenth to be established in the United States, following (in chronological order) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), Illinois, Cornell, Syracuse, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Penn State, Carnegie Tech, George Washington, Tulane, Harvard, Armour Institute (now Illinois Institute of Technology) and Notre Dame.

In 1906 a Department of Architecture was established under Bradford and in 1912 the first degree of Bachelor of Architecture was awarded. Through 1914, twenty graduates were awarded the degree Civil Engineering in Architecture, and among these early students three returned to Ohio State University as teachers and administrators.


 * Charles St. John Chubb, C.E. in Architecture 1904, continued his studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1907 he was invited by Bradford to join Ohio State University as an assistant professor. In 1913 he became a full professor and in 1922 he succeeded Bradford as Chair of the Department, a position he held until 1944. He became Professor Emeritus in 1951.


 * Howard Dwight Smith, C.E. in Architecture 1907, continued his studies at Columbia University and returned to Ohio State in 1918. He was Professor of Architecture from 1918-21 and again from 1929-56. He was also appointed University Architect in 1929, succeeding Bradford, and held this position until retirement in 1956.


 * Wilbert Cathmore Ronan, C.E. in Architecture 1910, also studied at the University of Pennsylvania and returned to Ohio State as an instructor in 1913. As Professor of Architecture, he was Department Chair from 1944-50 and retired in 1957 as Professor Emeritus.

The total budget for the year 1913-14 was $6,050, which included the salaries of two professors and two lecturers.

In 1918 a parallel four-year degree program in architectural engineering was introduced. This degree was last listed in the 1937-38 catalog and the last Bachelor of Architectural Engineering degree was conferred in 1939. From 1939-48 the Department offered alternative "Design" and "Construction" options under the Bachelor of Architecture degree.

Landscape architecture courses were first offered in 1915 through the College of Agriculture. A degree in landscape architecture was offered in the Department of Fine Arts from 1927-37, when it was transferred to the College of Engineering as part of the newly created Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Charles Reuel Sutton was selected to head the new program, which conferred the degree Bachelor of Landscape Architecture.

Following World War II, enrollment increased to 400 from an annual average of 100 during the period 1932-42. The Department was unprepared to handle this record increase and in 1949 an alumni committee met to investigate. In a report to University President Howard Landis Bevis, the group recommended that the Department be made a College separate from Engineering. In 1949-50, the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture was visited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which had been formed eight years earlier. Following their visit, NAAB notified the President's office that the Department had been dropped from its list of accredited schools. In denying accreditation, its report listed inadequate space, facilities and staff, an incoherent curriculum, a first year of study devoted to engineering, and drawing work graded by the Department of Fine Arts.

Following the critical report, the Board of Trustees voted to reorganize the Department into the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture as an autonomous unit within the College of Engineering. Elliot Whitaker, a faculty member from M.I.T., became the first Director of the School in October 1950. A new curriculum was adopted, selective admission accepted, and more space was assigned to the school. The University requested another visit by NAAB in 1953, and in June full accreditation was restored to the program. However, in subsequent visits they continued to note the problem of adequate space.

In 1956, the Board of Trustees initiated a program in city planning through the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Israel Stollman, a graduate of M.I.T. and planning director for Youngstown, Ohio, was hired to build the program. The first graduate from the program was Frank So, receiving the degree Master of City Planning in 1961.

A Master of Architecture program (MArch) was organized under Henry S. Brinkers in 1966, and two years later the faculty voted to withdraw the five-year Bachelor of Architecture degree, replacing it with the four-year Bachelor of Science in Architecture. The MArch was designated as the new professional degree at that time.

The budget for 1966-67 was $304,211, which included salaries, equipment, library funding, travel and research.

Brown Hall
For many years the architecture program was located at 190 West 17th Avenue in Brown Hall, a building designed by Joseph Bradford. It was named for Christopher Newton Brown, a Dean of the College of Engineering and a professor of Civil Engineering for 20 years.

Brown Hall was constructed in two phases, 1903 and 1921. Originally referred to as the Engineering Building, portions of the basement were remodeled to provide offices for the College of Humanities in 1968.

By 1992 the building interior was in poor condition and many systems had not been renovated since construction. Replacement cost was estimated to be $9.6 million.

[Information on renovations and Ives Hall.]

Following construction of Knowlton Hall to house the School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and City and Regional Planning, Brown Hall was demolished in 2009.

Knowlton Hall
The Knowlton School is presently located in Knowlton Hall. Dedicated in 2004, it was named after Austin E. "Dutch" Knowlton, Bachelor of Science in Architecture 1931, who co-founded the Knowlton Construction Company in 1937.

Knowlton Hall was designed by Mack Scogin Merril Elam Architects of Atlanta, with Wandel & Schnell of Columbus (now WSA Studio). Landscape architecture was designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates, New York and Cambridge. The structural engineer was Lantz Jones & Nebraska, Inc. (now SMBH, Inc.). It has been recognized by national publications including Architecture, Dwell and Architectural Record, and has won both regional and national awards from the American Institute of Architects.

The 165,000-square-foot facility houses all classrooms, facilities, and offices for Knowlton School’s three disciplines. There are six classrooms, four seminar spaces, a 200-seat auditorium and 500 studio spaces available to students. The building also features gallery space for exhibitions, a central review space for critiques of student work, a materials/fabrication lab, an experimental roof garden space, a 50,000-volume library, two computer laboratories, a digital image library and the Knowlton School Café.

Architecture
The Knowlton School's architecture section offers undergraduate and graduate degrees: a Bachelor of Science in Architecture (BSArch) and a Master of Architecture (MArch). The architecture section also offers an Undergraduate Minor in Architectural Studies where students complete 13 credit hours in architecture.

In the undergraduate program, students begin with foundation courses, including a design studio which results in a portfolio. A sequence of six studios during the second, third, and fourth years of the program build on scale and complexity and cover a range of building types. These studios of 12-15 students are led by faculty and practicing architects. During the summer, students can participate in internships or the School’s travel abroad program.

Architect Peter Eisenman, Charles Gwathmey Professor in Practice at Yale University, has said of the program at the Knowlton School: "I can say right now...that as far as I'm concerned, and as far as our faculty is concerned and many of my colleagues in other institutions, the undergraduate architecture major at this school is the best undergraduate major in the country, without a doubt...I can tell you that the kind of education that you get here about architecture is second to none."

The Master of Architecture degree has a single degree structure with a three-year sequence and two entry points. Students with non-architecture undergraduate degrees and some continuing students enter in the first year. This focuses on development of the student's critical, technical and aesthetic sensibility within the domain of architectural design. Students who have completed a four-year undergraduate degree from an NAAB-accredited program may be granted advanced placement to enter the second year on the basis of academic performance and portfolio review. The students then advance to the third year, which concentrates on developing disciplinary expertise through advanced research.

Unique to the Knowlton School, the Master of Architecture program culminates with the Exit Review. Exit Reviews are a series of public presentations given by each graduating student during their last semester in the program and constitute a student’s Master Examination. This diverges from the convention of a thesis in that each student is asked to pause from studio design production in order to both situate their work, and more importantly their architectural ideas, within the context of the larger flows of cultural history. They are asked to critically examine their own design agenda and to position it relative to larger disciplinary transformations occurring due to the evolving position of the architect in society.

Landscape Architecture
The Landscape Architecture section offers undergraduate and graduate degrees.

The Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture (BSLA) program is a combination of art, science, the humanities and professional skills and requires 126 credit hours to complete. The four-year program includes seminars, workshops, design studios and general electives.

The three-year Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program includes design studios, workshops, and theory courses focusing on the breadth and cultural implications of the discipline, from site design to urban design to the management of regional ecosystems. Courses in technology and professional practice prepare students for a career in professional landscape architectural design.

The Landscape Architecture section also offers an Undergraduate Minor in Landscape Architectural Studies.

City and Regional Planning
Information about the current program here. Brief summary of current curriculum.

Accreditation
Due to its location within the College of Engineering, every degree program offered by the Knowlton School is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. In addition, the Master of Architecture program is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. The Bachelor of Science in Architecture is a pre-professional degree and, therefore, is not independently accredited by NAAB. However, it is an integral part of the 4+2 program leading to the two-year Master of Architecture.

Both the Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture and the Master of Landscape Architecture programs are accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The Master of City and Regional Planning program is accredited by the American Planning Association’s Planning Accreditation Board.

Notable alumni
List of notable graduates here.

Notable current and former faculty

 * George W. Acock, FAIA


 * Herbert Herndon Baumer, FAIA, 1922-56. Student of Nathan Wyeth and first faculty member to graduate from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Designed campus buildings at Ohio State, Antioch and Wittenberg Colleges.


 * Perry Elmer Borchers Jr., 1947-70. Pioneer in the use of photogrammetry in architecture.


 * Joseph Nelson Bradford, 1899-1932. First Department Chair from 1899-22; University architect for Ohio State, 1911-29.


 * Michael B. Cadwell, FAIA, 1989-present. Director, 2012-present.


 * Jot D. Carpenter, FASLA, 1972-2000. ASLA President, 1978-79.


 * Charles St. John Chubb, 1904-51. Department Chair, 1922-44.


 * Thomas Dolliver Church, 1928-30. Pioneer designer of Modernism in garden landscape design, author of the groundbreaking 1955 book Gardens Are For People. Designed over 4,000 gardens during his career; landscape design consultant to Stanford University for 30 years.


 * Frank L. Elmer, FAIA


 * Thomas Ewing French, 1901-06. Ohio State graduate, class of 1895. Wrote a best-selling textbook, Engineering Drawing and Graphic Technology. President of Ohio State's Athletic Board, hired its first athletic director.


 * Jeffrey M. Kipnis, 1987-present.


 * Masao Kinoshita, 1978-90. Director, 1978-80. Principal at Sasaki Associates; designed Constitution Plaza in Hartford, Connecticut and Greenacre Park in New York City.


 * Robert S. Livesey, FAIA, 1983-present. Director, 1997-2005; Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, winner in architecture, 1975. Taught at Yale and worked with I.M. Pei and Partners in New York City before coming to Ohio State.


 * Noverre Musson, FAIA, 1946-88 (adjunct.) Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture, 1932. Studied under Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin. Worked on over 500 buildings in Columbus, including the Drake Union and Hopkins Hall at The Ohio State University and the Ohio School for the Deaf.


 * Galen Francis Oman, 1923-50. AIA President, 1935-36, 1947.


 * José R. Oubrerie, 1991-present. Protégé of Le Corbusier. Desgined Église Saint-Pierre in Firminy, France with Le Corbusier, completed in 2006.


 * William Cathmore Ronan, 1913-57. Department Chair, 1944-50.


 * Israel Stollman, FAICP, 1958-68. Organized the graduate program in City and Regional Planning. Director, American Planning Association, 1978-93.


 * Howard Dwight Smith, FAIA, 1918-21; 1929-56. University Architect, 1929-56. Designed the Ohio Stadium; awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Public Building Design.


 * Charles Reuel Sutton, FASLA, 1932-63. Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and protégé of A.D. Taylor. Worked for Ferruccio Vitale in New York before coming to Ohio State.


 * Albert Davis (A.D.) Taylor, FASLA, 1916-26. Designed parks, public works, subdivisions and private gardens primarily in Ohio, including Alms Park, Ault Park and Mt. Echo Park in Cincinnati, Ohio; Boys Town in Nebraska; and The Pentagon.


 * George B. Tobey Jr., 1950-70. Designed numerous projects in Ohio, including the Whetstone Park of Roses in Columbus.


 * Elliot Leonard Whitaker, FAIA, 1950-80. Director, 1950-70.