An Eye-Catching Collection: New Book Focuses on UC s Celebrated Campus

Quality takes time. That’s true when building a campus and also when chronicling one.

Over decades – indeed a century – Cincinnati has built one of the

most admired campuses

in the world at the University of Cincinnati, where classical and art-deco gems fit seamlessly beside acclaimed treasures of modern architecture.

Just as patiently – and consistently – celebrated Ohio photographer Bob Flischel has, for three years, literally focused his lens and his life on telling the visual tale of a transformed – and transforming – campus environment at UC.

The result of this intersection between a university’s vision and a photographer’s self-described “obsession” is a just-released book that combines architecture with artistry. The University of Cincinnati|Architectural Transformation: Tradition and Innovation – an independent project conceived and developed by Flischel – is now available via online orders from UC’s Parents Association as a means to benefit student scholarships.

The University of Cincinnati|Architectural Transformation: Tradition and Innovation represents Flischel’s third independent book project to chronicle his city, and he claims it may represent the pinnacle of a career spent shooting works for Life magazine, Time, Smithsonian, National Geographic Traveler, The Saturday Evening Post and many others.

Flischel readily admits to being obsessive about his work, especially this latest effort: “I’m always obsessed with the next great shot. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night either convinced that I have – or horrified that I don’t have – the best image possible.”

While working on The University of Cincinnati|Architectural Transformation: Tradition and Innovation, Flischel would routinely get up at 3 a.m. to go outside and check the weather. If the sky was cloudless and stars bright, that promised a photographer’s delight of a sunrise. It also meant he didn’t return to bed but instead headed for the UC campus. He explained, “The best light comes after a cold weather front has moved through. Those always produce a dramatic edge of light in their wake. And that’s the time when a photographer needs to attack, attack, attack.”

This obsessive attention to detail – and perfection – is visible, for example, in three of the 250 photos found in the new book. Three sun-and-shadow images of the architectural bas-relief on Wilson Auditorium required ten or so attempts to photograph. “I probably shot the… side of Wilson seven to ten times,” Flischel says. “The light kept casting weird shadows. I discovered the sun hits the right way only a few weeks a year, about ten minutes before sunset.”

That willingness to experiment once, twice or even ten times over combines with what Flischel calls a “great canvas for the best work of my life.” He adds, “The new (UC) buildings are pretty blinding in their brilliance. The more so because they are deliberately integrated into the more subtle beauty of the historic structures.”

While The University of Cincinnati|Architectural Transformation: Tradition and Innovation includes an overview of campus, specific sections focus on individual buildings, including

• Academic Health Center
• Albert H. Vontz Center for Molecular Studies
• Braunstein Hall
• Campus Recreation Center
• Carl Blegen Library
• College-Conservatory of Music
• College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning
• Engineering Research Center
• Joseph A. Steger Student Life Center
• McMicken Hall
• Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village
• Tangeman University Center
• Teachers College/Dyer Hall
• University Pavilion
• Van Wormer Hall
• Wilson Auditorium

The remarkable photographs are integrated with descriptions and little-known historical details regarding campus. For instance, McMicken Hall’s tower was inspired by one on the College of William and Mary campus, while Tangeman’s tower reflects on Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The symbolism was intentional: UC was to be a specifically American university.

Cost to order the book (shipping included) while also supporting student scholarships is $68. To order, visit the UC Parents Association Web site.

• View slide show of Flischel's UC images.
• Previous coverage (and images) of Flischel's new book.