Last night, community members gathered in Hendricks Chapel to learn about how their environment will be changing. Bruce Fowle of Fox & Fowle Architects presented a lecture focusing on three different methods of evolution: his personal evolution as an architect, the evolution of the Syracuse University campus and the evolution of his current project at SU. Fowle’s firm is in the process of constructing the new home for the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. The building, located at the corner of University Avenue and Marshall Street, is being built with special environmental considerations in mind.

Fowle leads the research of the effects of man-made structures on the environment and has won numerous awards for his efforts in ‘green,’ or environmentally friendly, architecture. Fowle was introduced by Arthur McDonald, interim dean of the School of Architecture.

‘I promised I would not introduce him as the Jolly Green Giant,’ McDonald said. ‘He’s an architect first and foremost.’

Upon his graduation from SU in 1960, Fowle realized that his education, while not the most progressive, had given him a firm foundation in the classic principles of architecture.

‘You can never measure the value of a school until you go out into the world and see how you measure against your peers,’ Fowle said.

His career began with projects such as the New York City Hilton Hotel, buildings at Farmingdale State University of New York, State University of New York-Purchase College and at IBM. In 1978, he and his former partner, Robert Fox, decided to take a chance and start a firm of their own.

‘It was not necessarily the best time, being as the country was coming out of a recession,’ Fowle said. ‘Somehow, with the passion and insatiable appetite to be in control and not let the boss tell us what to do, we started a firm.’

Fox & Fowle Architects has an impressive list of clientele, ranging from the Bronx Zoo to Tommy Hilfiger. In its 25 years as a firm, Fox & Fowle Architects has created everything from houses to high-rises to office and educational buildings. The firm also designed the first ‘green’ skyscraper and is currently working on the 2nd Avenue subway station in New York City.

Thomas Jefferson felt that a campus should be an ‘academic village,’ Fowle said, and that urban campuses are detrimental to ‘morals, health and the liberties of man.’ Fowle’s opinion of the evolution of SU’s urban campus was not always positive. He said the architecture ranged from the ‘ornate, rich’ period of the 1920s and ’30s to the ’50s and ’60s, in which ‘industrial-looking’ buildings such as Lawrinson, Sadler and Dellplain were created.

‘This was generally not a positive period for the campus,’ he said. ‘Never-never lands were created, and it wasn’t clear where the campus was heading.’

The school is focusing on historical restoration, which Fowle feels is a positive step. A new master plan for the campus has also been created. The plan defines different zones of the campus, including the science and technology section, and moving construction more toward West Campus.

The final step of Fowle’s evolution discussion covered his firm’s new building. It was designed with a program of requirements for students, staff and other faculty members in mind, but Fowler still wanted his building to maintain aesthetic and environmental integrity. The building sports such environmentally friendly features as high-efficiency fans and pumps, maximum day lighting, no CFC emittance, natural lighting and demand-controlled ventilation.

‘This project is cutting edge in many respects,’ he said, ‘but not miles ahead of what’s been done in the past.’

Construction of the new building began April 30, and should be completed by November of next year. Classes there will begin in Spring 2005.

‘Hopefully within a year,’ Fowle said, ‘you’ll be able to come in, sit down and enjoy yourselves.’

Published on November 4, 2003 at 12:00 pm