By DERIC C. NANCE
deric@du2.byu.edu
The architects who shaped BYU's campus aimed for cost-effective and economical design but also sought to create a spirit of unity.
Beginning in the 1950s, BYU buildings began changing in design to conform more to budget constraints than to principles of classical design.
Warren Jones, special projects manager at BYU, said the modern look seen in the McKay and Knight buildings was a more economical construction than the ornamental design of the original Academy and the Karl G. Maeser buildings. The first gold-buff brick and pre-cast concrete panel buildings were built in the 1950s to follow the style of the day.
The first of these buildings to break the classical mold was the original Carl F. Eyring Science Center, Jones said. The David O. McKay and the Knight Mangum Buildings soon followed, using similar brick and design.
Norm Faldmo, director of facilities planning at BYU, said BYU has traditionally tried to keep building design moderate and cost minimal.
'People often criticize the gold-buff brick style buildings,' said Faldmo, 'but this style has provided harmony throughout the campus.'
BYU is unique because of the variety of building designs, yet the gold-buff brick unifies the campus, Faldmo said.
The lighting design in each of the buildings is a another unifying factor that was deliberately planned to provide students with consistency in their studying atmospheres, Faldmo said.
The more classical, ornamental buildings on campus are more pleasing to the eye, Faldmo said, but the aesthetics come at a price. For example, the Maeser Building may be beautiful, but it provides poor space efficiency, and the cost to build such ornamental buildings is extremely high today compared the early 1900s.
Built in 1911, the Maeser Building was the first building built on the upper campus. The building was designed to serve as an administration building with some classrooms.
The second building on the upper campus, the Heber J. Grant Building, with its classical design, large windows and high ceilings, was used as a library with classrooms on the second floor before becoming the campus testing center.
The last classical building on upper campus, the Brimhall Building, followed with its design intended for an industrial arts lab and history classrooms.
Faldmo said the buildings on campus now are good, solid works of architecture but not outstanding.
'We have a budget to keep,' Faldmo said. 'Our buildings are beautiful, but not all gold medal winners.'
Some buildings on campus do depart from the standard brick to make a statement, Faldmo said. The art museum broke away from 'the box' look because the outside needed a more artistic design in keeping with the art inside.
A world-famous California architect, William Pereara, designed the Harris Fine Arts Center to break away from the more traditionally academic buildings, Faldmo said.
Faldmo said all the architecture firms they hire are run by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and most of them are Utah-based.
The Salt Lake architectural firm FFKR has done most of the design work on campus, designing a large group of BYU buildings and now working on other projects on campus.
FFKR designed the Marriott Center. Frank Ferguson, FFKR's only surviving founder, said BYU President Ernest Wilkinson requested that the Marriott provide seating for every one of the 22,000 students registered at the time. This made the Marriott the state's largest basketball stadium at the time.
Ferguson said each building they design aims for energy efficiency. Buildings such as the Caroline Hemeway Harman Continuing Education Building and the Roland A. Crabtree Building have large panels of glass to provide natural light, helping reduce electrical consumption, Ferguson said.
Ferguson said the N. Eldon Tanner Building called for offices and most classrooms to have natural light. Consequently, the building was designed like a doughnut, with the offices on the inside. An atrium was built on the inside to provide natural light in the offices.
Many people at the time were critical of the expected cost to build and place the atrium in the Tanner building, but Ferguson said a great deal of money was saved that nobody really knew about or appreciated.
All buildings on campus have been funded by BYU and have never gone over the budget, Ferguson said.
FFKR has worked with every major school and university in Utah, said Ferguson, and no school compares with BYU's design and construction department. The support and help their firm receives is tremendous.