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The Power of Place

Reimagining the Langford Architecture Center

Exploring the role of architecture in the creation of Place, this proposal aims to transform the Langford Architecture Center into a healthy, sustainable flagship campus facility which unifies the Historic Core and Northside of Texas A&M University. In short, this study recommends demolition and replacement of buildings B and C in the Langford complex.

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The study places special emphasis on the negative space—the “seam between space and event”—which acts as a social stimulus and facilitates the use of public space on campus.1 The non-programmed space, if treated with as much care as the explicitly programmed areas, distinguishes a simple building from an Architectural Place. The “in-between” spaces in a building are also one of the largest missed opportunities in design. Louis Kahn wrote that negative space in a building can “become a meeting connection and not merely a corridor,” but rather “a place of possibilities in self-learning” which manifests itself in informal gathering spaces and integral building and landscape elements.2 

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1. Bernard Tschumi, 10 Points, 10 Examples

2. Louis Kahn, Essential Texts

View from Ross Street

Current Site Configuration

1) The current configuration of the complex contains an exterior staircase to resolve an approximately 12’-0” level difference between Scoates Building and the ground level of the Langford Architecture Center.

2) A bridge spans the Ross Street side of the complex, spanning Buildings A, B, and C. However, the connection between buildings exists only on Level 2, leaving the complex feeling disjointed.

3) The existing woodshop loading zone unnecessarily clutters Ross Street, especially given the existing adjacent service drive currently utilized by the Bright Building. Proposed improvements include consolidating the two service drives in order to provide adequate trash and service space while still providing delivery access to relocated shop facilities.

4) Ross Street stands as one of the best examples of New Urbanism on campus, integrating pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic; however, the current Langford Architecture Center does nothing to reinforce the streetscape.

5) The only remaining accessible vegetated area on the Ross Street level of the complex is an uninviting space, boxed in by Langford A and a former loading zone. The proposal addresses these shortfalls of the current facilities, creating several comfortable “micro-climates” throughout the Langford Architecture Center.

6) Continuing the theme of the creation of inviting public spaces in the complex is the idea of opening the green roof of the Center to students once again.

7) The 1977 Jack Yeardley design of Langford A remains successful today in both its flexibility and creation of public space throughout its main floors. As a result of its flexible modularity, programmatic elements have been relocated several times since the building’s inception. This proposal returns the most public levels of the building to students, relocating the faculty offices while enhancing the lobby “mixing zone” present currently in Building A.

Current Configuration

Vicinity Map

The Solution

The Mixing Zone

The imperative of well-designed negative space is great in a higher education environment, where building program must be flexible and able to adapt to the times. A university building able to adapt to changing curricular and technological needs can serve a campus well for many years.

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In order to determine what makes a building’s negative space successful, the spatial syntax of lobby spaces in three existing structures—Knowlton Hall (Ohio State University), Ryerson University’s Student Learning Center, and Langford A—was analyzed in depth.

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The diagrams break the mixing zones down into their individual elements, and using the same graphic language provide insight into what makes each design successful. The design of Langford2 applies and builds on these identified positive elements, creating a circulation and views-driven design of negative space in the College of Architecture at Texas A&M.

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