Completed in 2009, Geddes Hall figures prominently among the recent cohort of buildings erected on Notre Dame’s campus. It is located opposite the LaFortune Student Center on Fieldhouse Mall. Geddes Hall was built to be a home for the Center for Social Concerns and its sister initiatives within the Institute for Church Life.
Weighing in at 64,000 square feet, the facility offers extensive support spaces for student groups and activities. It includes a chapel, coffeehouse, lounges, classrooms, conference rooms, and an auditorium, all of which can be reserved for social, educational, and service programming. Additionally, the Catholic Social Tradition minor has its offices and classes within the building.
The massing of the building is one of the best from the new generation of buildings that I have been chronicling. It slips fairly seamlessly between Breen-Phillips and the Hesburgh Library. My only quibble with the exterior volume would be the rather clumsy-looking stair towers on the east side of the building, which rise four stories without diminution or buttressing. All told, it is a very minor issue, considering the stairs face Pasquerilla West, which makes Geddes look virtuosic by comparison.
The dormers are very well done, without the bloating which ails those of the ACE building. They are spaced at reasonable distances, and placed in structurally-credible positions. A steel-framed building liberates the architect from actually making the dormers and roof system respond as if they were dependent upon the masonry below for their support. Thus, it is particularly praiseworthy when an effort is made to emulate this dependency in appearance if not in fact. It is a subtle effect, but one that goes a long way in generating a convincingly traditional-looking building.
Less convincing are the masonry details. In particular, Geddes has a lintel problem. The building features many cast-stone lintels, none of which are structural. The arched windows at the chapel are structurally-challenged in a similar way, having no keystones or visible support of any kind. The basilica, on the other hand, offers an example of credible, load-bearing arches and a perspectival use of pendants. And while the triangular blocks above the voussoirs are conceivably symbolic of the Trinity, they are completely unrealistic for gravity-resisting stonework. The string course, or band of stone wrapping the wall above the chapel, features a rather odd choice of ornament in the form of a shallow dentil motif. A quasi-classical affectation, they are childish and generally detract from the gravitas which befits a masonry exterior.
Inside, the building adopts an Arts-and-Crafts/Mission-style décor which seems completely suited to the use. As I wandered about the ground floor, I wondered if someone had purposely chosen Mission-style as a sort of interior design pun, given the scope of missionary work that spreads forth from this place. The public spaces are warm and inviting, with furniture in which an arkie would immediately fall asleep if he ever sat down. The ceilings are relatively low, giving the whole building a more casual, comfortable, and domestic scale, in contrast to many of its contemporaries on campus, which suffer from absurdly high ceilings.
The chapel features a gorgeous, near-life-size crucifix, reasonably good stained glass, and a fine tabernacle. The care and fortune expended to furnish the chapel makes an important statement about the place of prayer and liturgy in Christian service. That focus is unfortunately marred by the lack of incorporated kneelers. Liturgical experimentation of previous decades when space and furniture made compliance impracticable, notwithstanding, a brand new chapel should respect rubrics and norms of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Aside from that, however, the chapel is a well-appointed and prayerful space.
The auditorium appears well-conceived, the classrooms spacious and functional. Accessibility for the disabled is clear and direct throughout the building, as with its entrances, all of them at-grade. Overall, Geddes Hall is a thoughtful addition to our campus. Despite clear flaws in some details, this building will be a useful, and, I suspect, much-loved destination for generations of students.
Matthew Balkey is a fifth-year architecture student. When not touring Europe and Asia with his fellow arkies, he can be reached at mbalkey@nd.edu.
