Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park – Roosevelt Island, New York

For my final blog I chose to observe Louis Kahn’s “Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park.” This park was looked at as “the beginning of architecture and the gathering of nature” by Kahn as he began this project with his landscaping architect.  The space Kahn was given had great potential and he was not about to let this opportunity slip. The garden is lined by two rows of linden and beech trees. It is at the tip of this land that goes into a body of water. The final version of the space was built with massive granite stones to give it an extravagant look.  Although Kahn designed the park, it did not find its complete finish until 2012.

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Capital of Bangladesh – Dhaka, Bangladesh

This government complex in what is today Dhaka, Bangladesh, was Kahn’s greatest and most demanding commission. He made the center of this complex the National Assembly Building, structured around a central point.  Around it is grouped 8 building elements. The Muslim Prayer Hall was designed to face Mecca. Along the water, residences and office buildings form a V-shape. Today, this complex is one of the few remaining open spaces in the city and is very popular with the local population.

Yale University Art Gallery

Kahn was a professor at Yale University from 1947-1957. During this time he was given the opportunity to plan the Yale University Art Gallery to expand a neo-Gothic building of the 1920’s. The facades of the Yale University Art Gallery are made of brick and glass. A triangular reinforced concrete ceiling is the dominating feature of the interior. It was one of his first designs that allowed housing for lighting, electric wiring, and ventilation and was the first structure at the University of Yale to have specific locations for these departments.

Phillips Exeter Library

For my second series of blogs I will be focusing on Louis Kahn and some of his best works. Kahn was an American architect based out of Philadelphia where he also served time as a professor. He was very well known for his work and a style that was monumental and monolithic. Amongst his work is the Phillips Exeter Library and in Exeter, New Hampshire. This building served Phillips Exeter Academy and has many windows that allow students to read in the daylight on the top two floors. The entrance hall is designed for encounters and exchange and is accompanied by two other floors. Kahn designed it so that over 250,000 books could be of open display for the students at the Academy.

A building that is impactful to me is the Gaylord Memorial Football Stadium. it is impactful due to the fact i have so many great memories there with family. My parents were both sooner fans, so i was lucky enough to grow up a sooner fan and come to games as a kid. They still come to games and get to meet all of my friends and have a good time with us. It is so special to me because now i am building memories with my friends and my family that i will remember for the rest of my life. I hope that one day i will be able to come back to the beautiful Gaylord Memorial Stadium and get to watch a game with my kids. Then maybe if they choose to attend the University of Oklahoma I would be able to come and make more memories with him and his fiends the way my parents have with me and mine. My only concern is either football will not be a sport or that OU will have a bigger and better stadium in that time. Both of my parent still being the biggest fans they are, which has came from along past of with my mom bleeding the crimson and creme colors   from the day she came to the University of Oklahoma.

The United States Capitol is one of the more important and unique buildings we have in our country. It is the centerpiece for all that keeps our great country standing on its feet. This building is very special to me because I got to work in and around it for a month as an intern and got see what its all truly about. My intern was during a very exciting time for America (some might say). It was January of 2017, during the time of the inauguration of President Donald Trump.  It was an incredibly hectic time in Washing D.C. Whenever I see pictures of the capitol and all of its magnificence, I think of the time when I got to spend a month being a part of it all. The people in there and all the tools that keep our country great are so special to see. When any American thinks of a dome top to a building, they will probably first think of the United States Capitol. Its long stairs at its front make it’s appearance all the greater as it appears to be up on a pedestal.  It is hard to say which side is the front and which side is the back because they are both equally as incredible. The above picture shows where presidential inaugurations take place and I was privileged enough to attend President Donald Trumps. My experience in Washington D.C. centered around the capitol and it will always be one of the cornerstone sites that will remind me of one of the most remarkable months I ever had.

The Lambda Chi Alpha house is a very special place to me. Located at 904 College Ave in Norman, Oklahoma, this house serves as a home to 65 lambdas every year. Built in 1934, this house is one of the oldest houses on campus. It is very special to me as I was given the opportunity to live there during my entire sophomore year. Although maybe not the nicest of places, this house stands strong given all that it has to endure from fraternity kids year in year out. It is in the shape of in “L” on the corner of the block. The house only has one stair case that is right at the entrance of the front doorway.  It goes from the basement all the way up to the third floor. There are 24 rooms of different sizes. The first and second floor have the exact same floor plan. When I go back to that house I think of the year I had living in it with my 60 pledge brothers. It is an experience that I will never get to experience again, nor would I ever want to.  Its structure is so simple and thats what makes it so easy to live in. The main floor consists of a kitchen where we eat, a living room, and a formal room for meetings. The basement is used for Lambdas to study and is a nice get away from everything that goes on above ground. The house has fire escapes on the sides of the house that are used just as much, if not more, than the single stair case inside of the house. That house is a very special place for every Lambda that has gone through the University of Oklahoma.

The Skelly Mansion is an iconic home in the midtown area of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is a big, brick house and has four massive white pillars on the front porch of it. It is one of the oldest and most storied houses in all of Tulsa. Although I have never actually stepped foot inside of the Skelly Mansion, I did live a large portion of my childhood right next to it in the same neighborhood. I always loved meeting the new families (usually a prestigious one) that moved in there. Today, Skelly Mansion is owned by the University of Tulsa and serves as the home to the active president of the university. I remember doing a school report over the Skelly Mansion in the 3rd grade as a part of a history assignment for iconic structures in the state of Oklahoma. That project made me realize how cool Skelly Mansion actually is. The house was named after William Grove Skelly, an oil tycoon who lived in Tulsa from 1919 until his death in 1957. The structure served as his home for the first 20 years of its existence. After he left it, the house was deemed the name “Skelly Mansion.”  The house is Renaissance styled with its four pillars standing in the front. The architects and contractors behind the house are Mr. John and Joseph Blair. The Skelly Mansion will serve as an iconic home in Oklahoma for as long as it stands.