The modern era of Hallympic competition began in 1927 at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany. Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee, fearing that the rigors of technical and academic study would prove overwhelming if not offset by more lighthearted endeavors, organized a series of athletic competitions for the benefit of the Bauhaus’s student population. The Hallympic spirit soon spread to schools of Architecture & Allied Arts across the globe—at the University of Oregon, Dean Ellis Lawrence established his own Hallympic competition in the fall of 1929. Rechristened the Lawrence Hallympics after Lawrence’s death in 1946, the competition continued annually until student unrest in the late 1960s precipitated an administrative crackdown on all extra-curricular activities.

After a hiatus of nearly forty years, the Lawrence Hallympics resurfaced in the winter of 2005 with the running of the first annual Lawrence Mile. Following the success of 2005’s reduced slate of events, the first full Hallympic Games in the post-post-modern era are scheduled for the 2005-2006 academic year.

Comprising representatives from each of the School of Architecture & Allied Arts’ eight departments and programs, the Hallympic Committee oversees the operations and running of the Lawrence Hallympics.

Committee membership, though a closely guarded secret, is open to any student within the School of Architecture & Allied Arts. Click here for information on submitting nominations to the Hallympic Committee.