Diao, Response 3

E. Conrad Diao

Arch 212 - Understanding Architecture

Response 3

11.23.2015

Lane Hall - South State Street

This detail is a load bearing arch over a window. The arch is a structural detail, expressing the weight of the wall above. Based on the proportions of the building as a whole, it seems probably that Lane Hall is a load bearing brick constructed building. However, looking underneath the arch, at the patterning of the brick detailing, and the thickness of the wall through the window, it becomes clear that the arch and the brick facade are indeed, false. In this way we can see a building expressing an age that it does not possess by appearing to have been built with methods of an older time. This detail is representative of the whole building, with its broad steps, accentuated molding, columns, and other dated aesthetic features of the building as a whole. This particular expression of tectonic, being an arch, is easily communicated and readily understood by passersby, almost as a false advertisement of age.