SAHARA Highlights: Ramps

May 10, 2024 by SAHARA Co-Editors Jacqueline Spafford and Jeannine Keefer
The ramp is a simple utilitarian form, often employed to make spaces more accessible.  They can be an afterthought, or seamlessly incorporated into a design.  The effect a ramp can have on one’s experience of a space is undeniable, whether it be mounting the Capitoline Hill in Rome or circulating between exhibitions  at the Museu Nacional Honestino Guimarães in Brasília. After an injury one notices the ramps more acutely – their grade, their material, their width.  But, how often have SAHARA contributors photographed them? This month’s highlights collection includes exterior and interior ramps; ramps in private structures and those for the public; and ramps from a range of geographic locations.

Reminder: the SAHARA platform is almost finished transitioning to JSTOR, where our image collections are available alongside print materials, including JSAH. Most of the collection has been moved over, which you can visit on JSTOR: with your log-in (the same as your SAH and current SAHARA log-in) you can see both the open access Community Collection, as well as the Members Collection: https://www.jstor.org/site/sahara/ 

To learn more about contributing, visit: http://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/sahara   

Michelangelo, Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy, 1536-1546.  View of the Cordonata.  Photograph by Richard Longstreth, 2012.

Marian Lalewicz, State Agricultural Bank, Warsaw, Poland. View of the curving side ramp to the main entrance. Photograph by Anna Jozefacka, 2012. 

Le Corbusier, Ramp in the Curutchet House, La Plata, Argentina, 1953. Photograph by Annie Schentag, 2023.

Anshen + Allen, Chapel of the Holy Cross, Sedona, Arizona, 1956. Photograph by G. E. Kidder Smith.

Frank L. Hope and Associates, Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California, 1966-1967. View of the entrance ramp. Photograph by G. E. Kidder Smith.

Adèle Naudé Santos and Associates and LDA Architects, The Rooftop at Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, California, 1991-1998. View of the Carousel from the Zeum ramp. Photograph Richard Barnes.

Piñon+Viaplana, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 1994. View of Entrance ramp from courtyard to museum. Photograph by Elizabeth Meyer.

James Sterling, Neue Staatsgalerie, Stutgart, Germany 1977-1982. Ramp with lobby window at right. Photograph by William Kessler, 1981. 

Le Corbusier, Carpender Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1961-1964. Photograph by Dell Upton, 2009.

Oscar Niemeyer, Museu Nacional Honestino Guimarães, Brasília, Brazil, 1999-2006. View of the circulation ramp. Photograph by Jeannine Keefer, 2022.

Kenzo Tange, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History, Himeji, Japan, 1982. View of interior ramp.  Photograph by Dell Upton, 2006.