At Ohio State University, Mack Scogin Merrill Elam's new KNOWLTON HALL brings the design process to the larger academic community.

Not only was the Knowlton School of Architecture a building which is one to remember in architectural history but also was a huge leap for the next generation of architects in this part of the USA. As stated in the text ‘the importance of this event cannot be overstated.’ The university was given a ‘state of the art’ building which would not only help the university gain a high profile but also to inspire the work of the students that were to study here in the years to come. Although the project was a very ambitious one, being costly and complex in its design, the outcome of the project was pretty spectacular.

Although familiar with the building, I did not know that the initial design was not used and that the architects had to go back to the drawing board to make sure that the structure would be able to last a lot longer. This was not only to do with the design but the budget they had been given was not sufficient to provide for the school. Along with very generous donations, the school managed to raise enough money to fund the build.

From studying in a beautiful building myself, I am aware of the impact that this building would have on the students. To have true inspiration, there is no better way than being surrounded by stunning architecture. It was particularly interesting to see how the architects had to think about the function of the building predominantly.

I found that it was easy to relate to this to my work in Interior Architecture as the site itself is also a huge part of designing a building. Without a site and context is it very difficult to understand the project completely and produce something that is relevant to the client’s needs. This is something I will be taking further with me through my design studio work.