Skip to content

Architecture for the Boston & Albany Railroad: 1881-1894

Ochsner, J. K. (1988). Architecture for the Boston & Albany Railroad: 1881-1894. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 47(2), 109-131 .

View Publication.

Abstract

Between 1881 and 1894 the Boston & Albany Railroad undertook a major program of capital investment and improvements to the physical facilities of the line, including the construction of over 30 new passenger stations. H. H. Richardson's close friends, James A. Rumrill and Charles S. Sargent, as the two members of the B&A Board most interested in construction, were given responsibility for this program. They directed the commissions to Richardson and after his death to his successors, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. Richardson's nine B&A station designs were generally variations on a simple theme-small rectangular stone blocks with overhanging roofs providing sheltered waiting space at trackside. The continuation of this approach by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge in 23 additional station designs resulted in a remarkable consistency of character and quality throughout the B&A system. This consistency was also fostered by the continuing participation of Norcross Brothers of Worcester (Richardson's "Master Builder") as contractor, and by the participation of F. L. Olmsted, whose design of landscaped settings for many of the stations contributed to the establishment of the B&A program of "railroad gardening." While the stations were small commissions, the totality of the B&A program represents an impressive collaboration of designer, contractor, and client which has seldom been equalled.

The East Elevation of the Sherman House, Newport, Rhode Island

Ochsner, J. K. (1993). The East Elevation of the Sherman House, Newport, Rhode Island. Journal of Architectural Education, 52(1), 88-90.

View Publication.

Abstract

A previously unknown photograph of the east side (rear elevation) of Henry Hobson Richardson's Sherman House, in Newport, Rhode Island, provides additional evidence for the influence of Richard Norman Shaw on the initial design of the house. The photograph reinforces the argument that the distinctive west-facing front gable was grafted onto the body of a largely Shaw-inspired house. This further demonstrates that the front gable must have resulted from Richardson's late intervention in the design process.

A Space of Loss: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Ochsner, J. K. (1997). A Space of Loss: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Journal of Architectural Education, 50(3), 156–171.

View Publication.

Abstract

Few published essays have explored the way in which the Vietnam Veterans Memorial actually communicates with visitors. This article explores the memorial as a "linking object," as conceived by psychoanalyst Vamik Volkan, and as a "space of absence," as defined by Richard Etlin, and shows how these two ways of understanding the memorial are interconnected. A particularly innovative aspect of the memorial is the way it engenders awareness of both surface (emphasized by the inscribed names) and space (experienced as "virtual space") resulting from the reflectivity of the granite, which gives it an apparent ("virtual") depth. The reflective surface brings one "into" the "space" of the wall and allows simultaneous perception of the names of the dead, the reflections of other visitors, and the reflection of oneself. The complex interactive process wherein the inexactness and ambiguity of the reflections catch the viewer, engender projective fantasy, and (because of the presence of the names) simultaneously structure it, fosters a proximity to and an identification with the dead, and the simultaneous experience of connection and separation.

Behind the Mask: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Interaction in the Design Studio

Ochsner, J. K. (2000). Behind the Mask: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Interaction in the Design Studio. Journal of Architectural Education, 53(4), 194–206.

View Publication.

Abstract

Design studio is routinely referred to as the center of architectural education, yet surprisingly little has been published about the nature of the interaction between instructors and students in the studio environment. This article draws upon ideas such as Donald Schön's description of design as "reflection-in-action" and D. W. Winnicott's discovery of the foundations of creativity in the "transitional phenomena" of early childhood to provide a basis for understanding the emotional power of the design studio experience and the ways in which phenomena identified by psychoanalysis can emerge in the interaction of studio instructors and students.