A Love of Architecture

Four months, ninety-two pages, countless snacks and untold hours of Pandora later, I could not have been more proud of my completed senior thesis. Once I had given my thesis presentation and submitted my professionally bound and printed copy, I felt like a proud parent! Producing a published work was the perfect capstone to my liberal arts education.

As a child of an architect, I was exposed early to architectural aesthetics, which very likely influenced my choice of thesis topic. As I began to study architecture with Roger Hull my sophomore year, I became fascinated with the similarities between the Gothic Revival building style and American skyscrapers of the 1920s. Though at first glance seemingly completely at odds, these two styles began to niggle at the back of my brain, encouraging me to tease out the underlying architectural similarities of construction and philosophy. After writing a paper for Roger at the conclusion of my sophomore year that was accidentally far longer than required, I realized that this was likely a potential thesis topic for me. Lo and behold, a year and half later there I was, excitedly delving into the further research of the Neo-Gothic style and the rise of tall building architecture.

Gothic Revival buildings and their 20th century tall building counterparts became like my friends: they jumped out at me when I was out and about in the city.

The more I learned, the more I felt I didn't know and wanted to find out. That is the true glory of the art history thesis: the satisfaction of completion is matched only by its ability to provoke endless questions and interest in related subjects.

— Hayley Scott, Fall 2013

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Hayley Scott, 2013.


Honors and Awards

  • Recipient of Willamette University Department of Art History Honors; The Erwin Panofsky Research Award
Willamette University

Art History

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