detail-Hayden Robbins

 Crisler Center
333 East Stadium

The detail I have chosen is a piece that helps express the outside of the building and its entrance, but is sublimated once inside the building. Overall, the building has an expressive feel to it. The entrances have a "stick out" factor that are intended to draw people in. It seems to have a component scale, as it seems to have a variety of pieces that define it.

The importance of this detail is that it is a juncture of the outside and the inside of the building. It is a crossing point between connecting the structure of the building to the visual appeal of the outside entrance.  Detail is defined as a small part in relation to a larger whole.  This piece is one of the many defining components of the building. There is clearly structural value  at this point, and the sharp precise corner merges the structure with décor. Within “The Tell Tail Detail” by Frascari, he notes a definition of collocation. “The function in this case is not only limited to the practical and structural dimensions but it embodies, as well, historical and aesthetic dimension.”  With the Crisler Center being modernized recently, the historical value of the detail may lack, but this detail certainly embodies aesthetic value while complimenting the structure it surrounds. The “construction” of this detail is evident and the structure of the entrance is evident, but the detail I chose is “construing” the entrance. Frascari also entails the idea that details are “minimal units of signification in the architectural production of meanings.” The detail I chose embodies this idea perfectly. The corner seems insignificant, but it does its job in expressing. The corner seems to hold the canopy of the arena up, while connecting it to the structure of the inside of the building. It is clear to see the “t-shaped” intersection that this detail ties together. Even the subtle notches in the corner piece have a modernistic feel that adds to the aesthetics of the building. This detail may just be one of many involved in the idea of the building as a whole, but its characteristics define the updated modeling of the building and connect the modern appeal to the structure of the entrance.