A visitor to Saint John's University and Saint John's Abbey, in north-central Minnesota, sees something of Gothic heritage while standing in front of the abbey church, designed and built around 1960. The church's 112-foot campanile--a trapezoidal slab made of 2,500 tons of steel and concrete--stands boldly in front of a huge concrete honeycomb…

Bob Greenstreet is the dean of the architecture school at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. He is the longest-serving dean of any architecture school in the country, starting in 1990, and, since 2004, he has also been the leading planner for the city of Milwaukee. Greenstreet's position is a culmination of a relationship between the city…

In the past two decades, the most elite and ambitious colleges have commissioned buildings by "starchitects" for notoriety. However, people live in a green era now and there is a need for a new kind of star architecture to go with it, one in which the building is a star for its efficiency as well as its elegance. The new star architecture would…

Discusses how colleges are dealing with the dilemma of 1960s-era buildings that do not meet today's needs. Describes renovation projects at various colleges that attempt to mix educational, financial, and aesthetic goals. (EV)

More colleges are turning to famous designers for new buildings, banking on the publicity and prestige a star architect will bring. This has led some critics to focus on cost overruns and poor planning, questioning the priorities behind the big expensive projects. Describes this controversial building design at several campuses nationwide. (SM)