Saint John's Preparatory School

Saint John's Preparatory School

Lawrence Technological University

March 19, 2015

Michelson, Valerius

Hanson, Edward

O’Connor, Thomas (photograph)

American

Single Built Works

July, 1965

Minnesota (state)

Collegeville (inhabited place)

Modern (styles and periods)

preparatory schools (buildings)

Exterior view of Saint John's Preparatory School in Collegeville, Minnesota designed by Hanson & Michelson and completed in 1962. "The placement of the buildings on the south side of the hill protects them from prevailing northwestern winds and makes use of solar heat in winter. Projecting vaults over the classroom windows and the brise-soleil of the dormitory shield the interior from excessive heat in the summer. Only a minimal amount of openings penetrate the east and west walls, which step down the hill. It is in these walls that panels of exposed concrete were molded into iconic reliefs by the Polish-American artists Branislaw Bak. The monastic simplicity of cylindrical shells, more than a hundred of which cover the scholastic wing is a product of repetitive use of a few primitive plywood forms. The rhythmic articulation of concrete walls is only a pattern of grooves which denotes the joints between pouring sequences. The splayed columns and trapezoidal beams are shapes which permit an easy lowering of re-usable form work for the hyperbolic paraboloids of the dormitory,"--from "St. John's Preparatory School, Collegeville, Minn.," by Val Michelson.

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LTU-TO-465