Two cities on hills: Manitou Heights and the Acropolis soar above their respective vistas. Analysis of the ancient’s architecture provides perspective on the modern. Personal and mass interactions with the sites is comparable, as are developments of place history, constructive theme, and overall plan.
Procession to the sacred hill of Athens dominated the architecture of the Propylaia, the mark of transition between the profane and sacred (Rhodes 53-4). Manitou does not possess the divine aura of the Acropolis nor an equivalent to the Propylaia. Transition at the College is primarily intellectual rather than spiritual. Atriums, lobbies, and plazas are propylons to sacred classrooms, smaller though than the gate to the Acropolis; ascension of stairs, to a higher world, is common on both hills. Pupils migrate to classes through these propylons. Traditional procession too is an active force at the College, reserved for formal graduations and events.
Remnants of antique constructs are foundations for the new. An older Parthenon lay beneath the creation of Pericles (Rhodes 28-30). At St. Olaf, Rølvaag cores the library complex, expanded by the Felland and Dittmanson wings and Buntrock Commons; Old Main is a cornerstone for the campus. Old traditions accompany these architectural progressions: Athenian festivals, sculpture, and aesthetic canon; Ole graduations, intellectual pursuit, and Lutheranism. Permanence is crux to both hills; rock—marble and limestone—develops this.
Stone architecture themes both the Acropolis and Manitou. Marble rises from the rock of the Acropolis, integrating land and architecture. Ionic form blurs the distinction between land and building, Doric emphasizes it (Rhodes 56); both, with marble, synthesize to mark a transitory place of the earth yet also sacred and heavenly. Limestone—marred minimally with brick, granite, steel, and copper—permeates the buildings of Manitou. Usually no transition marks the meeting of ground and edifice: rock grows from the hill. Natural permanence is assumed by passerby. Both hills are intended for pedestrians, and are centralized with open-air spaces.
These open spaces contain the axes that create a central plan for the hills. Le Corbusier comments that “the axis is the regulator of architecture.” During a passionate analysis of the acropolis, he demonstrates that the axis of this hill runs from the Propylaia through the statue of Athena, and the Erechtheion and Parthenon distinctly flank this axis (Le Corbusier 187-9). At the College, the axis travels from Old Main to Skoglund, oblique to all edifices except the Speech-Theater Building (see below). Halls of learning flank this axis and are easily accessible from it. Encircling this axial formation are residence halls, similar to a populated Athens encircling the Acropolis.
Monuments of religion and knowledge soar on the Acropolis and Manitou Heights. Analysis of the Athenian creation provides understanding of the architectural methods used on Manitou. Transition, place history, constructive theme, and axial plan are comparable at these sites. Light glinting from a golden Athena marked the Acropolis and red bulbs flash on the Manitou towers of Mohn and Larson: these grand hilltop cities announce their presence from afar.
Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. 13th ed. Trans. Frederick Etchells. New York: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, Inc., [no publishing date]
Rhodes, Robin Francis. Architecture and Meaning on the Athenian Acropolis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
