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Brig-Wallis Architecture, Part 2: The Quad

The decision to build a training center/school and "home base" for the Order of Osiris had been bandied about for about 20 years before it was finally committed to. Long before the location for the school grounds had been decided upon and secured, there had been discussions and decisions made regarding campus designs and structures. Originally, it had been thought that an existing building would be the most natural (and simplest) scenario with which to work. But artistic natures being what they are, members of the Order soon realized how strong was their desire to build something "of their own." Thus, when the adjacent properties on the outskirts of Brig-Glis were purchased in 1806, an architectural design was already in hand.
     The fully enclosed, inward-facing "quadrangular" arrangement of the school's buildings was based on the design of the "Mod Quad" at Merton College, Oxford, England--with which all Order members were familiar. When the school founders first conceived of the school grounds, a fully-enclosed quad style was immediately favored for the expressed reasons of its capacity "to better nurture a private and introspective living and growing experience"--but their reasoning was probably just as much inspired by the fact that many Order members had had some educational experience or exposure to university or monastic life.
     After the acquisition of the properties and original buildings on Polenstrasse (the Chapel, with its rectory, kitchens, and stables to the east, the dormitory with its hospital on the main floor, to the south, and the Merchant House with its backyard stable/storage structure to the north and west, respectively), the Order hired a variety of architects and engineers, both local and of international repute, to help them decide which of the original buildings would remain, which could and would become incorporated into the school structure, and which would be razed and built anew. Of the original structures, only the Chapel and Merchant House remain, with the latter being the only one to  have undergone significant changes and renovations--some of which have occurred over the years.
     Conforming to a spatial and physical limitations imposed by the amount of property acquired for their building adventure as well as to a plan that could incorporate an intended capacity of living space of up to 20 faculty members and a maximum of 50 students, the Order and its architects decided on a design that uses a centrally-placed open green space, or "quad," that measures 40 meters (east to west) by 24 meters (north to south). All buildings, except for the Chapel, were built to a serviceable height of three storeys with slate roofs covering the second floor attic spaces.
     The "cloister"-look of the open-to-the-Quad colonnade on the ground floor of Aubrey Hall came out of other Order discussions that still predated the acquisition of the properties in Brig-Glis. The decision to not continue the open-cloister colonnade around the Quad, or even into Facilities Hall and Châtelaine Hall, was made just before final commissioning of the construction. The potential challenges to effective heating of said buildings was the main factor that led to this decision.
     While the granite used in school construction was procured locally, the slate for the rooftops were secured through the connections of Order members of the French persuasion and the marbles secured through Italian connections. The architectural style employed in the construction of all new buildings and for the retrofitting and refacing of all older buildings came from a style that was intended as an imitation and revival of older, medieval Gothic styles--a style which would later be called "Collegiate Gothic." As discussed in the previous post on Brig-Wallis architecture, the Chapel is the only building to have been left to its original designs and materials, start to finish.

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