SAUD News Release

June 5, 2006
Contact: Cindy Muckey, School of Architecure and Urban Design, (785) 864-3709.

Goodbye Lindley Annex; Hello Marvin Studios

It had to come down sooner or later and, after several years of premature announcements of its demise, Lindley Annex finally fell victim to a backhoe from B.A. Green Construction Company on Wednesday, June 22nd, at 7:00 a.m. An asphalt surface parking lot now stands in the same location where thousands of first-year architects pulled their first studio all-nighters and where students propped umbrellas above their drafting tables to keep the leaky roof from ruining their drawings.

Lindley Annex

It took only a few hours to level the 10,000-square-foot building that stood just south of Lindley Hall for almost 60 years. Donated to KU in 1947, it was originally a military cafeteria during World War II. The University intended the building to serve on campus as a cafeteria for engineering and architecture students but the need for classrooms prevailed and throughout the late 1940s and 1950s it was divided into classrooms for Architecture and Engineering. During the 1960s, it was converted to office space for instructors in English and other departments. By the 1970s, the building was turned over to the newly formed School of Architecture and Urban Design, and the interior was divided into studios.

The building’s problems were legendary even in the 1970s, and for those who think that the last wave of occupants was the first to mistreat the building, a few lines from a 1981 article in the University Daily Kansan show how little things have changed. As the story reports,

“Architecture students didn’t have much respect for Lindley Annex, a
‘temporary building’ south of Lindley Hall built just after the end of
World War II. They kicked holes in the walls and covered them with
graffiti. It was too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. The
lighting was terrible.” (University Daily Kansas, September 3, 1981, p.11)

Lindley Annex on its way down

KU officials had made public their intention of demolishing the “temporary” building since the mid-1990s, but had no appropriate replacement space for the studios that met there. That changed when Eaton Hall and an addition to the Baehr Audio-Reader Center were constructed. Several departments, including KANU, were able to move and this freed up space in Snow Hall and the former Kansas Public Radio Building, also known as Broadcasting Hall, situated directly behind Marvin Hall. Some studios were moved into Snow Hall in the Spring Semester of 2004. Additional studios were relocated to Broadcasting Hall, now known as Marvin Studios, in the spring and fall of 2005, following extensive renovation of the building’s interior.

Lindley Annex demolished

Professor Anne Patterson taught studios in Lindley Annex for ten years and, although she now has her classes in the renovated spaces of Snow Hall, she speaks for many when she talks about missing Lindley Annex. As she says, ”I kind of like the rough edges, myself. There was a lesson to be learned: what a beautiful drawing you can make in such a dump of a place.”

Broadcasting Hall Transformed into Marvin Studios

The relocation of KANU Radio out of Broadcasting Hall and into the Baehr Audio-Reader Center in summer, 2004, was the final move that had to take place to open up much needed spaces for the studios and labs lost with the demolition of Lindley Annex.

Renovation of the eastern half of the building, which had housed the radio station studios and offices, was completed in December, 2004. During the Spring Semester of 2005, two studios, a CAD/CAM computer lab, a small laser lab, support areas and offices were established in the eastern half and plans were completed for the western half of the building which was previously occupied by Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering.

Renovation of the western part of the building, now renamed Marvin Studios, began in June, 2005, and was completed in September. The rebuilt space includes two connected studios, two offices, an acoustics lab, and a small library for recycled materials. The acoustics lab, which is directed by Professor Robert Coffeen, was previously located next to the School’s Bob Foley Illumination Lab in the Art & Design Building. The illumination lab remains in the Art & Design Building and the room previously occupied by the acoustics lab has now been converted into a CAD/CAM lab with a large CNC router.

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