by Katharine Logan

Steven Holl has described the task of designing an architecture school as one of the most difficult of architectural commissions. "Aspiring to design a building which can add to the educational experience of architecture," he says, "is comparable to the problem of a brain surgeon operating on his own brain."

Whether or not one accepts this analogy, an architecture school is a special kind of design commission — one which seems to have provoked a number of thoughtful architects over several recent decades to produce less-than-timeless results.

The new College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (CALA) at the University of Minnesota is Steven Holl Architects' most recently completed response to that problem. The 48,000-square-foot (4500-square-meter) building includes a library, auditorium, classrooms, offices, and studio space.

The new CALA aims to unify and enrich the previously separate schools of architecture and landscape architecture, while enhancing the larger campus.   >>>

The new College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (CALA) at the University of Minnesota by Steven Holl Architects. Photo: Warren Bruland The concrete structure was left visible, partly for instructional purposes. Photo: Warren Bruland   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.