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Teaching Evolution vs. Creationism on Campus

A beautiful campus holds together because of rules. Think of any attractive campus, and there is clear sense of the DNA embedded in the college’s buildings. I’m sure we can think of campuses where rigid adherence to the rules suffocates the life out of that place; however, let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. For a place to thrive it must grow. It must change. It must evolve over time, and like the evolution of all living things, a campus must evolve, not start over. Architects who add new growth to a campus must understand the DNA—the rules— of the place. There are dead places on the UT campus where the architects du jour failed to graft into the living fabric of the University. Fortunately, there are several works of architecture that have successfully rooted into the soil of the campus, while at the same time exhibit details and elements that are unique to our current milieu. Often this approach is quiet, respectful and doesn’t grab headlines in the architecture media, but this is the right thing to do. Don’t play God designing ex nihilo. When it comes to architecture, I believe in evolution not creationism.