THE SOUTH HALL FAÇADE
But deeper stone in the quarry includes less seamface granite and more split-face, which features more texture but less of a range of colors, says Jon Devine, owner of Plymouth Quarries in Hingham, Massachusetts. South Hall, then, is a blend of the two types. It has a similar appearance to the longstanding buildings because quartzite was incorporated to the mix to add more orange, says Becker, a partner with Hartman-Cox Architects of Washington, D.C., which designed the building in association with Troy, Michigan–based Integrated Design Solutions. “It will darken in time and will begin to look even more like the existing buildings,” he says. “As a series of buildings, I think South Hall is an undeniable extension, though it tends to be simpler and a little
The use of stone from the same quarries, Devine notes, is a sign of the importance Michigan Law places on honoring the past. “Tradition is very strong at the University of Michigan, and the buildings that comprise the Law School played a big part in creating that tradition. Being able to continue the architectural style of the original buildings over 80 years later by using the same stone, from the same quarries, enables the University to continue that tradition, and we are thrilled that we could be a small part of that.”
The stone on South Hall was chosen to reflect the palette of the existing Law Quad buildings (top photo). Workers used this temporary wall as a template when laying the stone for the new building and for the Robert B. Aikens Commons exterior (above).
Law Quadrangle • Fall 2011
“The stone choice was a real challenge,” says Lee Becker, the lead architect on the project. On the original Law Quadrangle buildings, the stone with the classic gray, tan, and deep rust hues was seamface granite—that is, the vertical layers (seams) of rock excavated from the quarry were used as the face of the exposed stone.
more modern than the existing buildings. It isn’t directly derivative of another building, but it speaks in the language of the buildings around it.”
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ow’s this for a nod to history? Law School administrators and the architects of the new Law Quad South Hall wanted the exterior to be a clear part of the family of buildings to its north, and of particular importance was the stone façade. So they went to the same quarries that the architectural firm York and Sawyer used in the 1920s and 1930s. Even then, getting a near-match proved tricky.
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