614 
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- 
ticn of all future buildings; in those | 
three comprised in the first construc- 
tion—the Administration Building, 
the Mechanical Laboratory and the | 
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 climatie 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 
,elass rooms. 
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
a number of lecture halls, seminar and 
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 
buildings. 
of surrounding 
As the principal building 
on the campus and the most conspicu- 
ous, it has peen 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 facades 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 closipg 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- 
eating 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 
