ABSTRACT
The vital question of the limits of architectural expression gains special value when seen against the backdrop of the successive removal away from paradigms external to architecture toward paradigms that are internal to it. In the efforts at achieving historical justification also proceeds to project these same understandings onto buildings of the past, claiming for instance that the linguistic analogy always formed a part of architectural expression, or conversely, that architectural expression is not and was never about expressing social meanings. To emphasize differences in expression as architectural history surveys have commendably displayed the rich varieties architecture can assume. The chapter examines the buildings from the standpoint of the propriety of external expression in relation to the building's purpose; and when applicable, the role played therein by sculpture and ornament. Based in part on the Oxbridge tradition of quadrangles, Magdalen College is organized around a three-sided rectangular space with the fourth being open to the neighboring park.
