The architecture of Usdan leads me to believe that it was modified to be in its present form. Specifically, I do not believe that the Boulevard and C-Store were originally as they are. I would guess that what is now the Boulevard originally served some other function, possibly incorporating features of the C-Store, and the area outside of the Boulevard was not in the original building design.
The nice glassed in Boulevard eating area appears to have been added after the fact, along with the C-Store, energy-efficient doors, and the fire sprinkler system. I’m not sure where I could go to see the plans for these buildings (for free), but perhaps the University Archives could help me out here. I might need to become friendly with whomever maintains that collection.
Alwina Bennett wants to turn the former bookstore into a game room. I disagree. I think the very big, nice place would be a great study lounge a la the Technology Library in the new green thing. Combine lots of tables and couches, a bunch of computers, some smaller rooms with white boards, and windows, and you have a nice quiet place to hang out and study. And what’s funny is that that room wasn’t even designed to be a quiet study lounge…more of a gathering and meeting place with study rooms and nooks, but the students quickly took it over and made it what they wanted — a quiet place to study. I think we need a few more nice big clean quiet rooms with plentiful desks, desk lamps, computers, and such. With the atrocity that is the new bookstore, it would be nice if we could at least transform the old bookstore site into something useful, instead of the current empty, debris-filled space that it is.
Speaking of the new green thing, I hear that otherwise bustling offices like Trisk, SSIS, and such are now pretty barren thanks to being hidden somewhere on the second or third floors of our great new building. Meanwhile, the women’s resource center has a pretty prominent location that generally seems empty and devoid of life. Oh, and everyone wants the conference rooms. Another lesson: groups need places to meet! Places with big round (or rectangular) tables, nice chairs, projecting screens, soundproofing…how did we overlook this in all the rest of our designs?
I want to do a profile for the newspaper of the new dorm…hopefully I can find out more about it BEFORE they build it, so we can fix any deficiencies we may find before the thing is, ya know, finished.
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You’re right on target with the "new green thing".
Even when clubs try to reserve the conference rooms, other people take over the rooms. And most of the other things (e.g. offices) are tucked away obscured from view…not the best design.
And as for the new bookstore, I dunno if it would be a good "quiet study lounge" b/c of the dining area next to it (noise).
The shapiro library never was intended to be a quiet study area, but… old man shapiro throws a fireplace in there… but the Unet office is in there too, with phones and plenty of frustrated users. If you want it quiet, go upstairs because that phone will never stop ringing, and theres next to nothing we can do about it.
I was hoping the old bookstore would be turned into a larger c-store to replace the undersized, understocked and overcrowded one up by the boulevard. more checkout counters means shorter lines means happier customers. larger stock too. And the more they carry, the more points we’d spend there, pumping even more money into aramark. So who’s to lose out here?
A quiet area in the basement of Usdan is a horrible idea. First, Usdan is depressing enough as it is, encouraging people to study there during finals would only contribute to campus depression. Second, Usdan is (the last time i checked) a dining hall, which means noise.
Game room? If we want games, we play CS.
By the way… does anybody know what happened to the big portrait of mr shapiro that used to be over the fireplace? Either facilities or some students got it…