Architectural Tour

Today I went with the 10th grade on a walking tour of public architecture in Seattle. We visited Town Hall, the Seattle Public Library and the Court House.Again, the students worked within their cohort groups, walking downtown in groups of 8-9.

At Town Hall, students identified Neoclassical elements in the building's architecture and discussed how these elements served the building's functions as meeting place and as a place of worship).

On the steps of the courthouse, the students considered the strikingly different buildings on both sides of 5th Avenue--the library and the courthouse. They brainstormed adjectives as they took in the buildings in their sites; there was lively disagreement within the groups. (Some students love the exuberance and edginess of the library; some students find it confusing and repellent.)

They also considered how the architectural styles of the buildings serve or do not serve the functions of the building. Some students appreciated the rationality and seriousness of the courthouse facade; some considered it forbidding . Everyone commented that the Seattle Public Library seemed to want to convey a very non-traditional message about the nature of information and knowledge.

Though it took a while to get to the buildings, it was very useful to see them as they actually interact with the city. Simply showing some slides would have been faster but would not have captured the dramatic way the library juts out over the street nor the striking separation of the courthouse from the hectic life of the street.