Introducing the Gargoyle

After a few years and the novelty of the building wore off, it became clear that there were aspects of the Mallinckrodt Center which did not reflect the the architect's goal of balancing the desire for spaces of relaxation and the need for funneling high volumes of people through the building. WashU student's dissatisfaction manifested in creative solutions which student reported on.

The Washington Record was a weekly student publication which aimed to highlight campus events and news. In the above article, "Student's Idea for Coffeehouse Develops into 'Homey' Gargoyle" published in 1979, the author speaks to the widespread desire for the concrete heavy Mallinckrodt to become not just a thoroughfare, but also a place to pause and relax. They also note the conflicting impacts that the architecture itself had on student's ability to make Mallinckrodt a comfortable and sustainable meeting place–highlighting the noisiness, lack of natural light, and absense of clear lines of were one space began and the other ended. 

With this challenge in mind, they created the Gargoyle–a convertable space with "living rooms" on wheels and tall backed booths against the back wall. The student managers of the coffeehouse also wanted to promote the Gargoyle through having nightly entertainment. 

Credits

Bowman , Charlotte . 1979. Review of Student’s Idea for Coffeehouse Develops into “Homey” Gargoyle. Washington University Record , February 1, 1979. Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives. https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=record.

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