Gothic Architecture Research Articles

’A Perfect Expression of the Life of a Modern University’: Collegiate Gothic and Urban Progressivism at the University of Chicago, 1890–1918

ABSTRACTCollegiate gothic architecture built in the United States during the early twentieth century has generally been considered an anti-modern reaction to the rapid changes of the period. This article challenges that interpretation by analysing the collegiate gothic architecture and planning of the University of Chicago from its incorporation in 1890 up to 1918, focusing on the work of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, which hitherto has been almost entirely neglected. In these decades, the campus changed considerably from the original 1893 quadrangular plan by Henry Ives Cobb. Archival sources are used to trace this shift, with particular attention to three major buildings designed by Charles Coolidge: the Tower Group (1903), Harper Memorial Library (1912) and Ida Noyes Hall (1916). In their architecture and planning, each of these projects set new precedents for the adaptive possibilities of collegiate gothic and changed how the campus related to its urban neighbourhood. From 1900, the university’s leaders consciously opened the campus to its surroundings and realigned it to the Midway Plaisance, the renowned public greenway designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. In doing so, the university pioneered a new campus typology, the academic avenue, which represented a positive embrace of urban life within wider debates on the American city. Through this typology, the university’s collegiate gothic architecture made meaningful connections with Chicago’s progressive civic culture, in consonance with the educational philosophy of its founding president, William Rainey Harper.

Notre-Dame of Amiens: Life of the Gothic Cathedral by Stephen Murray

Reviewed by: Notre-Dame of Amiens: Life of the Gothic Cathedral by Stephen Murray Michael T. Davis Notre-Dame of Amiens: Life of the Gothic Cathedral. By Stephen Murray. (New York: Columbia University Press. 2021. Pp. xii, 440. Numerous color and black-and-white illustrations. $40.00. ISBN 9780231195768.) Beginning with the first stories, writers have guided readers through the built environment. The author of The Epic of Gilgamesh transports us to the third [End Page 190] millennium BC and the Mesopotamian city of Uruk urging us to, “Look at its wall which gleams like copper, inspect its inner wall, the like of which no one can equal! (Tablet 1)” Some, like Abbot Suger in his “little books” (libelli), or Frank Lloyd Wright in the Autobiography, take center stage to explain the political and spiritual motivations or the creative processes that informed their active roles in building projects. Others offer a shared experience emulating Pliny the Younger, who wrote of his Tuscan villa to his friend Domitius Apollinaris: “I . . . set out in this letter to take you with me round every corner of my estate. . . (Pliny, Epistulae, 5.6), ” or John the Evangelist, who reports the vision of “the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven” shown to him by an angelic chaperon (Rev. 21: 10–21). Scholarly writers, on the other hand, tend to stand discreetly in the wings directing buildings to tell their stories supported by a cast of patrons, craftsmen, documents, and institutions. Stephen Murray, in Notre-Dame of Amiens: Life of the Gothic Cathedral, inspired by John Ruskin’s The Bible of Amiens (1864), revives the role of the interlocutor—“the person who points and talks and guides” (p. 14)—to narrate the long life of an edifice that has been called “the Parthenon of Gothic architecture.” In an earlier book, Notre-Dame, Cathedral of Amiens: The Power of Change in Gothic (Cambridge, 1996), Murray foregrounded construction of the thirteenth-century structure, significantly refining understanding of the sequence of building and the sources behind its design. The present volume recalculates the narrative path while extending coverage into the sixteenth century to include the additions and urgent repairs that created the cathedral that, by and large, we see today. Chapter 1, “Visiting the Cathedral” (pp. 14–98) briskly reviews the history of the city from its Roman origins as Samarobriva to its florescence as a prosperous and strategically vital node of the Capetian kingdom. With the historical background in place, Murray then steps across the temporal threshold to tour the present cathedral as a whole, first circling the exterior, then moving into the interior, and finally ascending to thread through the triforium and around the flying buttresses. Black-and-white plans and photographs, many of them also reproduced as color plates, follow the verbal commentary, but the true companion to the text is the Columbia University Media Center for Art History website (https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/amiens-arthum/content/home-page), which contains a comprehensive and dynamic dossier of high-resolution photographs, panoramas, and sound recordings. The panoramas, especially, afford a measure of independence, permitting the viewer to look up and down, zoom in and out, or explore space in a non-sequential route. Chapter 2 (pp. 99–158) surveys the five portals of the cathedral. The three west portals capture the arc of history from the Old Testament prophets on the outer faces of the buttresses to the Virgin portal and the Incarnation of Christ on the right, Saint Firmin the Martyr, venerated as the principal saint of the city, to the left, culminating with the Last Judgment in the center. Here, Murray stresses [End Page 191] the active relation of sculptural subjects to the liturgical life of the cathedral. For example, the Invention and Translation of the relics of Saint Firmin on January 13 was staged in procession, while the lush foliate band that rings the cathedral interior recalls the accompanying miracle of the leaves. As past and present, sculpted images and living actors merge across space, the cathedral reveals “the wider power of the Gothic to transform physical observation and sensation into religious and spiritual affect” (p. 226). Chapters 3, 4, and...

Il codice delle Enarrationes in Psalmos miniato da Michelino da Besozzo

This article studies an illuminated manuscript of St. Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos: Vat. lat. 451 (Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana). The manuscript was commissioned by the bishop Giovanni Capogallo, when he was in Lombardy in close contact with the court of the duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti. The article examines the cultural milieu of Pavia in the early 15th century, highlighting the role of the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine in the monastery of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro. The two incipit pages ff. 1r and 239r, illuminated by Michelino da Besozzo, are an example of the International Gothic style and this article analyses not only their stylistic aspect, but also their allegorical meaning, as an interesting case of decoration of a patristic text.

A study on building projects of the Catholic Diocese of Fukuoka: Construction of Madarajima church and Yobuko church

AbstractThe Catholic Diocese of Fukuoka holds documents from the late 1920s when the Diocese was newly established. The documents show how construction of church buildings were carried out in the early days of the Diocese. Madarajima church and Yobuko church were rebuilt in 1929. Both were built using the method of relocation and reuse of wooden church buildings, which became disused due to rebuilding. Study of the documents revealed that old church structures were purposely reused because it could provide a church of Gothic Revival style with rib‐vaulted ceiling and also reduce the construction cost. Gothic Revival style with rib‐vaulted ceiling was the standard of church design in Japan since the late 19th century until the 1920s. Because of this tradition, parish priest as well as parishioners of both of Madarajima and Yobuko churches desired Gothic style with the rib‐vaulted ceiling for the new church buildings. The Diocesan documents showed that the parish priest as well as parishioners of Madarajima Church contributed cash to building funds on top of the deposit of the parish in order to materialize the new church of Gothic Revival style and the Diocese covered the deficit.

Heinrich von Ferstel und die Regotisierung der St. Jakobskirche in Brünn

The Church of St James is an important late Gothic monument and was treated as such even in the 19th century, when not only reconstruction work was carried out, but also attempts to restore it to its Gothic appearance and to cleanse it of later stylistic elements. August Prokop was engaged in 1868 for the task of creating a design for a new choir loft on the north side of the church. However, his plan was not implemented, and in 1870, a higher authority - Heinrich von Ferstel (1828-1883) - became involved in the repairs to the church. The latter then determined the course of all the work, which was conducted on site by Josef Arnold (1824-1877) and Franz Neubauer (1824-1881). The present edition presents news and letters from both August Prokop and, especially Heinrich von Ferstel. These sources illuminate not only the issue of the reconstruction of the Church of St James, but they also provide an insight into the thinking of architects of the second half of the 19th century on the issues of transformation, repair and restoration of Gothic architecture.

Zadanie fotografa. Problemtyka Reprodukcji dzieła sztuki na przykładzie dwóch książek fotograficz`nych Eustachego Kossakowskiego August Zamoyski oraz Lumières de Chartres

Using the example of two books by Eustachy Kossakowski (1925–2001) – August Zamoyski (1974) and Lumières de Chartres (1989) – the text addresses the issue of reproducing works of art in the form of a photo album (photobook). The work of the photographer who makes reproductions of works of art is compared to the task of the translator, a reference to Walter Benjamin’s essay. The text is divided into two parts corresponding to albums. A detailed analysis allows us to see the differences between the books, as well as the change in Kossakowski’s approach to reproduced works of art. The first album consists of black-and-white photographs depicting in an original way the works of the prominent Polish sculptor August Zamoyski. Kossakowski recontextualizes individual objects photographed in the artist’s French studio. In the second book, the photographer publishes color photographs of the titular “lights of Chartres.” Taken inside the early Gothic cathedral, the photos move away from the documentation of the object, and the weight shifts to a near-abstract record of the artist’s emotions. Published alongside Anne Prache’s scholarly study, engravings and documentation of the edifice, Kossakovsky’s photographs constitute an original monograph of Chartres Cathedral. In the author’s view, Kossakowski’s photobooks go beyond the framework of a typical album of reproductions offering the mass public a substitute for contact with art. The photographer creates autonomous objects by translating the reproduced work of art into an object that fosters an aesthetic experience and becomes art itself. Kossakowski’s approach is juxtaposed with Mieke Bal’s reading of Benjamin’s text. While the album dedicated to Zamoyski seems to be based on unconventional documentation, in which the procedure of recontextualizing objects plays a dominant role, the Chartres monograph approaches the “ecstatic aesthetic” proposed by Bal. Lumières de Chartres provides a different perspective on the reproduction album, which, in addition to basic information and illustrative reproductions, is a carrier of emotions, a record of experiences and a medium of art. An analysis of the author’s publications, which include reproductions of August Zamoyski’s sculptures and documentation of Chartres Cathedral, emphasizes their autonomous and artistic character. Kossakowski observes and interprets Zamoyski’s work by looking at it from a distance. But in Chartres, we observe how he lets himself be captivated by the cathedral. The transformation of the cathedral into sensual light completely absorbs its subject - the metamorphosis of Zamoyski’s sculptures does not. Photography is not art, nor is it reproduction. It is only in the process of interpreting an object by looking at it with a camera to the eye that the artistry of translating a work of art into the format of a photograph and, further, a photo album is revealed. The photobook as a work of art is the true task of the photographer.

Casual Learn: A linked data-based mobile application for learning about local Cultural Heritage

This paper presents Casual Learn, an application that proposes ubiquitous learning tasks about Cultural Heritage. Casual Learn exploits a dataset of 10,000 contextualized learning tasks that were semiautomatically generated out of open data from the Web. Casual Learn offers these tasks to learners according to their physical location. For example, it may suggest describing the characteristics of the Gothic style when passing by a Gothic Cathedral. Additionally, Casual Learn has an interactive mode where learners can geo-search the tasks available. Casual Learn has been successfully used to support three pilot studies in two secondary-school institutions. It has also been awarded by the regional government and an international research conference. This made Casual Learn to appear in several regional newspapers, radios, and TV channels.

Dark Academia: Curating Affective History in a COVID-Era Internet Aesthetic

Abstract Dark academia is an ‘internet aesthetic,’ an aesthetic style used in posts on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Tumblr that resonates the atmosphere of life in boarding schools, prep schools, and (Ivy League) colleges from the last decades of the nineteenth century up until the 1940s. It expresses a fascination with (neo-)gothic architecture; with tweed, lace, wool, and leather; with literature and art, and Romantic longing. Having been a main trend on social media platforms throughout the coronavirus pandemic, dark academia captures and facilitates cultural engagement in times of social isolation and closed college campuses. This article studies the dark academia aesthetic as a mnemonic curatorial practice with tendencies to counter hegemonic norms and narratives. Focusing on the affective dimensions of dark academia, this article argues that the aim of this internet aesthetic is to annul historical distance by capturing a mood and atmosphere associated with early twentieth-century campuses through the means of curated social media representations. This de-historicization allows for the renegotiation of values, like inscribing queerness – associated with secret queer romantics at gender-divided schools – into its representational language, without having to reassert historical gender binaries.

Stavanger domkirke – en arkeologisk utgravning under koret

Stavanger Cathedral was built in Romanesque style around 1100. The choir was 11.5 m long, 8 m wide and straight ended. After a fire in 1272, the choir was extended to the east in Gothic style around 1300. Stavanger museum carried out an archaeological excavation in multiple rooms in 1967. In the eastern part of the excavation area more than 30 skeletons were found. The skeletons sent to the Department of Anatomy in Oslo for analysis were mixed at the Institute, and in the boxes returned to Stavanger, there were also bones from other parts of the country. It is discussed whether the main room has been a crypt or a tomb. In the author´s opinion, it has been a tomb. Carbon 14 datings show that there was a cemetery before the church was built. Thus it is likely that there was a wooden church at the location prior to the Romanesque church.

Virgin Mary as the “Gate of Heaven” with Angelic Musicians in the Doorway of the Apostles at the Cathedral of Valencia

The Door of the Apostles at the Cathedral of Valencia stands as a treasure of sacred Gothic architecture and sculpture. A modification to its original structure in 1599 removed the mullion and the stone image of the Virgin that is to be found today in the tympanum. However, regardless of her location, Mary Mater Dei presided over everything that was happening in the doorway. She guided those who crossed the temple’s threshold, placed as she was on the mullion so as to appear as a Porta Coeli. In addition, she was the conductor of the characters on the door such as apostles, prophets, patriarchs, virgins and angelic sonadors (sound-makers). The latter appeared playing various instruments from both profane and sacred medieval traditions. Their location in the tympanum, playing a role in the meaning of the message, showed the importance of music as a vehicle for conveying the revelation of the Incarnation of Christ.

Parish church in Ljutomer and Early Baroque sacral architecture in Prlekija

The article presents the Baroque architectural phase of the parish church in Ljutomer, the nave of which was constructed between 1688 and 1690 by the very prolific master mason from Leibniz (Lipnica), Jakob Schmerleib. The church has a three-nave structure, with its origins in Late Gothic architecture. The master mason was probably sent to Ljutomer by the owner of the seigniory Branek, Thomas Ignaz Maurer von Mauerburg, a member of the highest elite in Graz. Although the church is not the first Early Baroque sacral building in Prlekija, it boasts the most complex architecture amidst the predominantly single-nave, multi-bay counterparts. Early Baroque sacral architecture in the area emerged at a relatively late stage, about 1674 (churches in Cezanjevci, Velika Nedelja, and Stara Gora at Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici). By the end of the seventeenth century, nearly all of the important sacral buildings in Prlekija were rebuilt or newly constructed in the Baroque style.

Parish church in Ljutomer and Early Baroque sacral architecture in Prlekija

The article presents the Baroque architectural phase of the parish church in Ljutomer, the nave of which was constructed between 1688 and 1690 by the very prolific master mason from Leibniz (Lipnica), Jakob Schmerleib. The church has a three-nave structure, with its origins in Late Gothic architecture. The master mason was probably sent to Ljutomer by the owner of the seigniory Branek, Thomas Ignaz Maurer von Mauerburg, a member of the highest elite in Graz. Although the church is not the first Early Baroque sacral building in Prlekija, it boasts the most complex architecture amidst the predominantly single-nave, multi-bay counterparts. Early Baroque sacral architecture in the area emerged at a relatively late stage, about 1674 (churches in Cezanjevci, Velika Nedelja, and Stara Gora at Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici). By the end of the seventeenth century, nearly all of the important sacral buildings in Prlekija were rebuilt or newly constructed in the Baroque style.

Parish church in Ljutomer and Early Baroque sacral architecture in Prlekija

The article presents the Baroque architectural phase of the parish church in Ljutomer, the nave of which was constructed between 1688 and 1690 by the very prolific master mason from Leibniz (Lipnica), Jakob Schmerleib. The church has a three-nave structure, with its origins in Late Gothic architecture. The master mason was probably sent to Ljutomer by the owner of the seigniory Branek, Thomas Ignaz Maurer von Mauerburg, a member of the highest elite in Graz. Although the church is not the first Early Baroque sacral building in Prlekija, it boasts the most complex architecture amidst the predominantly single-nave, multi-bay counterparts. Early Baroque sacral architecture in the area emerged at a relatively late stage, about 1674 (churches in Cezanjevci, Velika Nedelja, and Stara Gora at Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici). By the end of the seventeenth century, nearly all of the important sacral buildings in Prlekija were rebuilt or newly constructed in the Baroque style.

Experimental Study of the Wind Pressure Field on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

ABSTRACT The paper concerns an experimental study on the wind pressures over the surface of a worldwide known Gothic Cathedral: Notre Dame of Paris. The experimental tests have been conducted in the CRIACIV wind tunnel, Prato (Italy), on a model of the Cathedral at the scale 1:200, reproducing the atmospheric boundary layer. Two types of tests have been conducted: with and without the surrounding modeling the part of the city of Paris near the Cathedral. This has been done, on the one hand, for evaluating the effect of the surrounding buildings onto the wind pressure distribution on the Cathedral, and, on the other hand, to have a wind pressure distribution plausible for any other Cathedral with a similar shape. The tests have been done for all the wind directions and the mean and peak pressures have been recorded. The results emphasize that the complex geometry of this type of structures is responsible for a peculiar aerodynamic behavior that does not allow estimating correctly the wind loads on the various parts of the Cathedral based on codes and standards, which are tailored for ordinary regular buildings.

Пожежа Львова 1527 року: велика втрата чи великий ренесанс?

The purpose of the work is to update the study of fi re stories using the example of one of the largest fi res in Lviv in 1527 and to show the political and cultural consequences of this natural disaster for the city. The research methodology includes, fi rst of all, the method of critical analysis of historical sources followed by a comparison of the text and its retellings. The analysis of the historical source also involves linguistic (translation of the Latin source), topographic (reproduction of historical objects on a modern map), onomastic (interpretation of city toponyms) analyses. The source is also studied in the direction of the history of the environment and the consequences of human activity, the restoration of the city after a natural disaster, the anthropological factor of the impact on the environment. The archaeological research method allows to reproduce the original appearance of the city before the fi re and to compare its spatial development and construction. The scientifi c novelty consists in the re-examination of the source references and later interpretations of the description of the fi re, which was placed in the counsil book of the city in 1527, with the aim of clarifying the causes and consequences of this natural disaster for Lviv. The prospect of further research consists in actualizing the study of such little-known topics as the history of disasters, in particular, fi res, in cities and urban agglomerations. Clarifying the causes of fi res, their scale and consequences shows what impact natural disasters had on the development of cities, their decline or rise. Conclusions. In the fi rst third of the 16th century, Lviv suff ered great losses due to the fi re of 1527. However, a consistent state policy aimed at providing large tax and other benefi ts both to the city as a whole and to its individual ethnic and social groups made it possible to restore the trade and production potential of the bourgeoisie by the middle of the 16th century. The ruined city center was gradually rebuilt due to migration to the city, both internal and external. A special impetus was given to the construction of new sacred buildings, rebuilt Renaissance buildings rose in the place of burned wooden shrines in the Gothic style, the town hall and the market districts took on new forms known to this day thanks to the new buildings.

Order, Procedure, and Configuration in Gothic Architecture: A Case Study of the Avas Church, Miskolc, Hungary

The geometric determination of Gothic architecture together with contemporary design methods is an important question in the history of arts. The Gothic style is unique in the history of European architecture: it is the only period when Antique models were barely used. The design methods were different than those used in Classical (and so Renaissance, Baroque, and Neo-Classicist) architecture: the design involved subsequent geometrical steps. These steps, and thus the procedure are at least as important as the resulting geometry itself. Using recent technology (laser scanning, algorithmic modelling), the procedure can be modelled. In this new approach for the research of Gothic architecture, not only the geometries themselves are the subject of examination but also the underlying generative processes. Contemporary written sources on design rules together with the fabric of the buildings themselves serve as source for this kind of research. In this case study, the late Gothic Avas church in Miskolc, Hungary served as a base for testing the extent of the use of surviving rules; generative, procedural algorithms were created based on the surviving parts and fragments to illustrate the demolished parts. Finally, a configurational analysis was conducted to compare the late medieval and early modern approach to design.

Unknown Gothic construction at the Latin Cathedral in Lviv

Little-known architectural and archaeological objects studied during the rescue archaeological research on the Cathedral Square in Lviv in 2006: remains of ancient wooden roads, a stone-brick building, and a brick fence of the temple area have been introduced into scientific circulation. Based on stratigraphic and historical-architectural analyses, the dating of the relics was justified, their functional interpretation was carried out, as well as the historical-cartographic identification of some of them. In the first cultural layers formed on a part of the area, complexes of finds from the Early Iron Age (VII–VI centuries BC) and Middle Ages (XI–XIII centuries) were discovered. Until the period of the locational city of the ХІV–ХVІ centuries two tiers of wooden roads were assigned, the discovered fragments of which have reached our days in a good condition of preservation. It was established that their construction consisted of transverse depressions, longitudinal timbers, and transverse boardwalks secured with wooden joints. It is noted that the found fragments of contours and directions of ancient roads indicate a freer planning structure of the Lviv city center in the Gothic period. An unknown stone-brick building located in the corner of the church area is recognized as one of the most mysterious. It was established that its deep pit cuts through a layer of stone paving on yellow sand, which covers a complex of wooden streets and can be dated back to the second quarter of the ХVІ century. Taking into account the Gothic style of brickwork preserved on the third tier of the interior, as well as the stratification of the internal filling, the construction is dated back to the third quarter of the ХVІ century and it was interpreted as the family tomb of one of the richest residents of the city. The unconventional spatial orientation of this type of building is associated with the possible contour of the fence of the area of the church cemetery, which in the plan had a corresponding break in the corner, and the later brick fence of the cathedral area appears in the ХVІІ – the first half of the ХVІІІ century when the burial construction was no longer functioning. It has been established that the cartographic analysis of the situation gives grounds to assume that in the 1760s the tomb was completely leveled, and in its place, there was a corner gate. It is noted that in 10 years, cartographers will record the appearance of a right angle of the fence at the corner of the plot, as well as the making of a new gate, limited by thickened pillars. It is indicated that the foundation of one of them was identified and recorded during archaeological research. As a result of rescue excavations, some architectural and archaeological relics were identified in the modern environment of the square to emphasize the importance of these objects of cultural heritage in the history of Lviv. Key words: Lviv, architectural archaeology, Gothic construction, stone fence, wooden streets, cultural heritage.

Illuminating the sunbeam through glass motif

In the Middle Ages, the image of a sunbeam passing through glass or crystal was a popular metaphor for explaining Mary’s perpetual virginity. One of the most frequently repeated quotations that employs this metaphor has long been attributed to the twelfth-century Cistercian abbot St Bernard of Clairvaux, which might suggest that the emergent Gothic style contributed to its contemporaneous propagation in text and image. However, this much-repeated quotation is in fact the commentary of a seventeenth-century Dominican scholar, who mixed a widespread medieval trope with Bernard’s own discourse. A reevaluation of the use of the sunbeam motif in text and image suggests that, whereas it was commonly used to explain the Virgin Birth in literature, in visual art it was more frequently associated with the Incarnation. Furthermore, as I argue, the translation of the motif from text to image appears to have been catalyzed by a materially focused affective piety and the devotional texts of late medieval mystics such as the Meditationes vitae Christi and St Bridget of Sweden’s Revelations.

Below Victory

Recent advances in Ground Penetrating Radar have caused the imaging technology to pivot from a simple construction engineering tool to a valuable new option for archaeology. Newfound abilities to model sound echoes resonating through stone have revealed archeological discoveries where excavation is not possible. Working with a transdisciplinary team, the artist secured a GPR scan of 2,000-year-old Gallo-Roman temple ruins below the plaza of a gothic cathedral in France. The technology's sounding image of the hidden site became a visual language that was explored in a 2-year series of artworks based on the discovery. The art + science research project resulted in data visualizations across many creative media including site-specific public trompe l'oeil, augmented reality, and hundreds of design experiments. Using the GPR dataset as a foundational resource in art-making, the project expanded the interpretation of Digital Heritage. Collectively, the works reinforced the understanding of a site hidden since Antiquity but also considered public non-sites in pandemic times. The advances in this scanning technology proved to be a powerful creative tool to highlight themes of how we protect and understand heritage, how we create public experiences in socially distanced times, and our responsibility to continually reconsider complex history.

Sound Scattering by Gothic Piers and Columns of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

Although the acoustics of Gothic cathedrals are of interest to researchers, the acoustic impact of their many columns is often neglected. The construction of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris spanned several centuries, including a wide variety of architectonic elements. This study investigates the sound scattering of a selection of seven designs that are relevant to this building as well as to the architectural style itself. These were measured on scale models (1:8.5 to 1:12), using a subtraction method, for receivers at about 3 m at full scale and a far-field source. They were also numerically simulated using a finite-difference time-domain method in two-dimensional space with an incident plane wave. The method integrates a finite volume framework to employ an unstructured mesh conforming to the complex geometries of interest. The two methods are in strong agreement for the considered configurations. Relative levels to the direct sound of backscattered reflections between −10 dB and 2 dB and between −15 dB and −6 dB in the transverse directions were estimated for the dimensions considered, relative to reported reflection audibility thresholds. Cross-sections with smaller scale geometrical elements on their perimeter can produce diffuse reflections similar to those of surface diffusers.