Donor-Driven Designs on the University

Abstract

Universities across the world are increasingly dependent on substantial gifts from the super-rich and their charitable foundations for capital development. The “golden age of philanthropy” compels academic managers to become campaigners and supplicants and rewards those whose research appeals to the philanthropic marketplace. Philanthropy thereby shapes the organization, activities and behavior of the contemporary university. Additionally, it literally shapes campuses. Substantial gifts, arriving as they do on a timeline that suits philanthropists, re-order development priorities, disrupt masterplans, and generally channel funds toward research in the biosciences, health and technology. Consequently, there has been a boom in university laboratory construction since the early 1990s, especially in biomedical research. This paper explores how philanthropy might have specifically architectural effects. Focusing on Atlantic Philanthropies and their investment in the Translational Research Institute, in Queensland, Australia, it is argued that philanthropy produces buildings that are luxurious and ornamented and, in the context of university requirements, ornamental.

Keywords:

• philanthropy
• laboratory architecture
• Translational Research Institute
• Atlantic Philanthropies

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Iain Hay and Samantha Muller, “Questioning Generosity in the Golden Age of Philanthropy: Towards Critical Geographies of Super-Philanthropy,” Progress in Human Geography 38, no. 5 (2014): 636.

2. Ibid.

3. Patricia Mooney Nickel, “Haute Philanthropy: Luxury, Benevolence and Value,” Luxury 2, no. 2 (2016): 26.

4. Slavoj Žižek, “We Don’t Want the Charity of Rich Capitalists,” ABC Religion and Ethics, August 14, 2012. Available online: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/08/14/3567719.htm.

5. Quoted in Peter Dobkin Hall, “Philanthropy, the Nonprofit Sector and the Democratic Dilemma,” Daidalus (Spring 2013). Available online: https://www.amacad.org/publication/philanthropy-nonprofit-sector-democratic-dilemma.

6. Nickel, “Haute Philanthropy,” 13.

7. Russ Prince, Karen File, James Gillespie, “Philanthropic Styles,” Nonprofit Management & Leadership 3, no. 3 (1993): 255–268.

8. Paul Schervish, “Why the Wealthy Give: Factors Which Mobilize Philanthropy Among High Net-Worth Individuals,” in The Routledge Companion to Nonprofit Marketing, ed. Adrian Sargeant and Walter Wymer (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2008), 165–181.

9. John Thelin and Richard W. Trollinger, Philanthropy and American Higher Education (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 4.

10. Universities UK, Higher Education Research in Facts and Figures (2018). Available online: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/facts-and-stats/data-and-analysis/Documents/higher-education-research-in-facts-and-figures.pdf

11. K. E. W. Farley, K. A. Goss, S. R. Smith, “Introduction to Advancing Philanthropic Scholarship: The Implications of Transformation,” PS: Political Science & Politics 51, no. 1, (2018): 39–42.

12. Center on Philanthropy, Indiana University, The 2010 Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy, (Indianapolis: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 2010), 6. Available online: https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/files/research/2010baml_highnetworthphilanthropy.pdf

13. Weill Cornell Newsroom, “Weill Cornell Opens Its Transformative Belfer Research Building, Empowering Scientists to Speed Discoveries to Patients,” January 30. Available online: https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2014/01/weill-cornell-opens-its-transformative-belfer-research-building-empowering-scientists-to-speed-disco.

14. Stanford Business Newsroom, “Knight Management Centre Open for Business,” April 29, 2011. Available online: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/news-history/knight-management-center-open-business (accessed August 20, 2019).

15. James Watson, Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science (New York: Vintage, 2007), 312–313.

16. RSL Lightprojects 1 magazine, Bernhardt and Partners, ATC Heidelberg, p. 38. Available online: http://www.rsl.de/en/magazine/lightprojects-01/architekten-bernhardt-partner/ (accessed 1 April, 2013).

17. The EMBL is an extreme example of donor intervention and, perhaps, too easy a target for criticism. Focusing on such examples might give the impression that all is well if only philanthropists keep a hygienic distance from the selection of the architect and site, and the development of the design. This is to miss the point.

18. Conor O’Clery, The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing (New York: Public Affairs, 2007).

19. In 1990, Feeney established a second foundation with a $40 million endowment, the French American Charitable Trust (FACT), for his five children to learn about and practice philanthropy. The foundation, which spent out its funds in 2012, supported community groups fighting for a living wage and job protection, as well as environmental social justice issues.

20. Tony Proscio, “Scanning the Skyline: Lessons from 30 Years of Capital Grantmaking,” Atlantic Philanthropies homepage, August 24, 2015. Available online: https://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/news/scanning-the-skyline-lessons-from-30-years-of-capital-grantmaking (accessed August 20, 2019).

21. “Tennis Star, Philanthropist Celebrated in ‘Great Fletch’ Bio,” Atlantic Philanthropies homepage, 10 October, 2008. Available online: https://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/news/tennis-star-philanthropist-celebrated-great-fletch-bio (accessed 5 November, 2019).

22. Atlantic gave $US350 million to Cornell University, Feeney’s alma mater, for the construction of the recently opened NYC Cornell Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island.

23. The Foundation boasts that its grants to Vietnam “have helped modernize the country’s public and primary health systems.” Its efforts have included support for an anti-smoking campaign and the introduction of a law mandating helmet use by motorcycle riders. Atlantic Philanthropies homepage. Available online: https://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/regions/viet-nam (accessed August 20, 2019).

24. Day was an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at RMIT University and also an alumnus.

25. Large gifts to Australian universities outside of Queensland include: US$21.82 million in 2006 to build an extension to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne for biomedical research and population health. Earlier grants for renovations to this facility included US$7.34 million in 2000 and US$4.08 million in 2002; US$18.19 million to the University of Melbourne in 2000 to support the building of a new research and commercial biotechnology precinct and US$15.78 million to construct a new research building for the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney to expand and diversify its heart disease and training programs and to support medical education. Two further grants, in conservation and art, were for small amounts to enable minor building renovations.

26. Other large capital grants include: US$15.19 million to the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2004 to create and build the Queensland Brain Institute; US16.09 million to the Queensland University of Technology in 2009 to construct a community, science and technology precinct; US$15.35 million to the University of Queensland in 2005 to develop a clinical research centre aligned with a hospital; US$15.36 million to the Queensland University of Technology in 2005 to construct the Centre for Physical Activity, Health and Clinical Education in Brisbane; US$15.35 million to the University of Queensland in 2005 to develop a clinical research centre aligned with a hospital; and US$15.36 million to the Queensland University of Technology in 2005 to construct the Centre for Physical Activity, Health and Clinical Education in Brisbane.

27. In addition to the $350 million gift noted above, Cornell had previously received from Atlantic US$100 million in 1999 to support the construction of the West Campus in and US$60.7 million in 1998 to construct new residences. Atlantic also gives generously to the University of California at San Francisco, who have received $637.75 million since 2004, over $400 million of which was for capital investments.

28. ABC News, “Chuck Feeney Gives Qld $102m Donation,” ABC News, July 28, 2009. Available online: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-07-27/chuck-feeney-gives-qld-102m-donation/1368456 (accessed August 23, 2019).

29. Although repeated on Atlantic’s homepage, this last comment may well have been facetious for the state had long boasted, in addition to beaches and tourism, established cultural and educational institutions, alongside manufacturing, mining, and agriculture. Atlantic Philanthropies, “News: The Smart State: How Bioscience Revitalized Queensland, Australia,” Atlantic Philanthropies, internet homepage, August 18, 2015. Available online: https://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/news/smart-state-how-bioscience-revitalized-queensland-australia (accessed August 23, 2018).

30. Translational Research Institute, “TRI Funding Partners,” Translational Research Institute, internet homepage. Available online: https://www.tri.edu.au/tri-funding-partners (accessed 22 August, 2019).

31. Ian Frazer interviewed by the author at the Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, May 21, 2018.

32. Phaidon Editors, Houses: Extraordinary Living (London, UK and New York: Phaidon, 2019).

33. John Macarthur, “Millenium Arts: State of the Arts,” Architecture Australia 96, no. 2 (2007): 53.

34. Brit Andresen, “Translational Research Institute,” Architecture Australia 102, no. 4 (July 2013): 29. Available online: https://architectureau.com/articles/translational-research-institute/

35. Leslie Sklair, “Iconic Architecture and the Culture-Ideology of Consumerism,” Theory, Culture & Society 27, no. 5 (2010): 135–159.

36. Antoine Picon, Ornament: The Politics of Architecture and Subjectivity (London, UK: John Wiley and Sons, 2013).

37. Jonathan Massey, “Ornament and Decoration,” in The Handbook of Interior Architecture and Design, Part 3.1 Atmospheric Conditions of the Interior, ed. Graeme Brooker and Lois Weinthal (London, UK: Bloomsbury, 2013), 497.

38. Nurses in the Queensland system earn between AUD$62,000 and AUD$92,000.

39. Wendy Brown, “The End of Educated Democracy,” Representations 116, no. 1 (2011): 22.

40. Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution (New York: Zone Books, 2015), 198.

41. Michael Bloomberg is a notable exception here. The Bloomberg Foundation, like Atlantic makes large investments in public health, but also gives to the arts, the environment and the improvement of cities.

42. Paul Schervish, “Major Donors, Major Motives: The People and Purposes Behind Major Gifts,” New Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising, no. 16 (Summer 1997): 85–112.

43. Bloomberg, for example, has given John Hopkins University more than $3.3 billion. Other super-rich donors, including H. F. Gerry Lenfest, Eli and Edyth Broad, and David Rubenstein have each given large gifts to their alma maters which include Columbia Law School, MIT, Harvard, and Duke University—institutions already well endowed with gifts.

44. Teresa Odendahl, Charity Begins at Home: Generosity and Self-Interest Among the Philanthropic Elite (New York: Basic Books, 1990).

45. Council for Aid to Education, “Press Release: Colleges and Universities Raise Record $40.3 Billion in 2015,” January 27, 2016. Available online: https://cae.org/images/uploads/pdf/VSE_2015_Press_Release.pdf.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sandra Kaji-O’Grady

Sandra Kaji-O’Grady is Professor of Architecture at the University of Queensland, Australia where she teaches design. She was the Dean and Head of School at UQ between 2013 and 2018, and previously held similar leadership roles at the University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney. Her research on the expression of science in laboratory architecture culminated in two recent books: Laboratory Lifestyles: The Construction of Scientific Fictions, edited by Kaji-O’Grady, Chris L. Smith and Russell Hughes (MIT Press, 2018) and LabOratory: Speaking of Science and its Architecture, Kaji-O’Grady and Chris L. Smith (MIT Press, 2019). Her next book examines buildings that serve the pet industry and the design of urban spaces for companion animals.