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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



who prepared a block plan indicating 

 the most effective use of the three- \ 

 hundred-acre campus lying along the ! 

 boulevard extension of Houston's prin- 

 cipal street, and designating the posi- 

 tion of all future buildings; in those 

 three comprised in the first construc- 

 tion — the Administration Building, 

 the Mechanical Laboratory and the j 

 Power House — the architects have sug- 

 gested a style of treatment which will 

 be reflected in all future construction. 

 This style is not one easy to charac- 

 terize, for in it are borrowings from 

 many southern types; reminiscent of 

 the medieval work of Italy, southern 

 France and northern Spain, the influ- 

 ence of the east and the new world's 

 Spanish missions is not less apparent ; 

 the round Byzantine arch serves to 

 impart a scholastic tone to the whole 

 architecture which none the less re- 

 tains a quality distinctively American 

 and American of the southwest rather 

 than of the north. In the blending of 

 these southern types full advantage has 

 been taken of local climatic conditions; 

 bright, warm skies have prompted a 

 freer use of color than would be haz- 

 arded in a severer climate ; open courts 

 bounded by cloister walks, while foster- 

 ing an academic atmosphere, ward off 

 the sun and give easy access to every 

 wandering breeze from the south. An- 

 other local condition, the excellent 

 quality of brick available had weight 

 in the selection of a building material 

 which would lend itself readily to the 

 effects sought. The light pink brick of 

 native clay seemed especially suitable 

 to a local adaptation of the admirable 

 brick work of northern Italy; this 

 brick will be used, therefore, exten- 

 sively and with pink Ozark marble will 

 establish the prevailing color tone. 



The Administration Building, so 

 called because eventually its function 

 will be the housing of the various ad- 

 ministrative offices, will, at the outset, 

 be put to more academic uses, and will 

 contain besides the offices of the presi- 

 dent, registrar and bursar, the great 

 hall or assembly room, the library and 



a number of lecture halls, seminar and 

 class rooms. Lying across the prin- 

 cipal axis of the campus and facing 

 the entrance from the Main Street 

 Boulevard, the Administration Build- 

 ing is approached by a long driveway 

 lined with stately trees and flanked by 

 broad lawns. Its sallyport gives ac- 

 cess to an inner court richly gardened 

 and planted with cypresses, and walled 

 in by the cloisters of surrounding 

 buildings. As the principal building 

 on the campus and the most conspicu- 

 ous, it has oeen given a pronounced 

 richness of color and finish; special 

 pink tile matching the brick are ex- 

 tensively used in the face work; be- 

 neath the projecting marble cornice 

 glazed tile of blue color form a frieze; 

 and in the fagades small shafts, col- 

 umns and inlays of many colored for- 

 eign marbles discreetly accent the dom- 

 inant color tone. 



At some distance from the Admin- 

 istration Building and closing another 

 long vista from Main Street Boule- 

 vard, the Mechanical Laboratory and 

 the Power House, surmounted by a 

 lofty campanile, form the extreme 

 boundary of the proposed science 

 group, and the nucleus for its imme- 

 diate development. The laboratory 

 itself contains on the first floor the 

 necessary offices for professors in 

 charge, two large laboratory rooms and 

 a thorough system of lockers ; upon the 

 second floor two large drafting rooms 

 and three lecture halls. Communi- 

 cating with the laboratory in the rear, 

 a large machine shop connects it with 

 the Power House, which will supply 

 light, heat, power and water to the 

 entire campus. 



The next construction will include 

 two more laboratories in the planning 

 of which, as in the Mechanical Labora- 

 tory, assistance was received from an 

 advisory committee consisting of Pro- 

 fessor Ames, director of the physical 

 laboratory of Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity; Professor Conklin, director of the 

 biological laboratory of Princeton Uni- 

 versity; Professor Richards, chairman 



