Planting Bubbles: Space and Missionary Collegiate Architecture in Beirut and Kyoto, 1866–85

Space and evangelization converged on several levels. First, impressive images of missionary buildings appeased the supporters at home. Second, big and solid buildings inspired curiosity and awe in the field, attracting visitors, each of whom was a potential convert in missionary eyes. Hence, for missionaries, their compounds were not just homes and places of labor but tools of their work and their appearance was crucial for promoting the success of the mission. Thus, their spatial organization was driven by anxieties over failure and the desire to impress. Missionary collegiate architecture was not an exception in that it too helped students visualize progress and civilization. This paper examines two buildings erected between 1871 and 1884 on two missionary college campuses, one in Beirut and the other in Kyoto. Being built on inadequate budgets and with numerous construction material limitations, the two buildings had to represent the Protestant message and ensure success of what was at the time a very a vulnerable project of a missionary college. By focusing on the process of building I examine how missionaries and local masons interacted in the building process and how this interaction changed the buildings they created. How did brick and stones lay civilization? How did Arab masons building College Hall on the campus of what is today the American University of Beirut change the design of a renowned New York architect? How did Japanese masons build a New England redbrick college building held together by its roof, against all rules of western architecture?