FliccGirl wrote:I guess it depends on what you think of as "classic." It seems to me that when all the buildings on a college campus have to be one style of architecture, it just gets pretentious and forced.
I like the buildings on BG's campus. They have character. I like their quirkiness-- knowing that the MMAC has 88 practice rooms like the 88 keys on a piano, and that the library is shaped like a stack of books, and that the Student Services Center was built on the theme "revolving around the students."
I like that the buildings are what they are-- not pretending to be anything else. You can tell which buildings were built in which eras. I like being able to identify which buildings were there from the beginning, and which were built during the 60s when BG was rapidly outgrowing its old campus, and which have been put up in more recent years. It sort of gives you an atmosphere of feeling like we're right now part of the progression of BG's history, and that gives a sense of belonging, in a way.
That's what I liked about BG when I first visited it. I told my dad I liked the campus better than the other campuses we visited, and he laughed at me (he went to Miami for his first two years of college, incidentally). Yeah, maybe the other campuses were prettier, in a purely aesthetic way. But this one just seemed like I would feel at home here.
Good post. I think what has bothered me most about BG is even in recent years, some of the things I thought added charm or were the nicer parts of campus were removed or changed. I liked the old stone wall that was in front of the student health building that is now gone after a sidewalk renovation. I hated seeing the quad area shrink and a bunch of trees removed to put the new building (what's it called, East Hall?) in front of the library where it looks so crammed in and so out of place.....it looks like a jail. I also didn't like seeing the outer parts of campus stripped down and the trees removed to widen the roads. I know some of these things were needed, but I thought in the process, they hurt our campus appearance and we never did anything to balance things out after the projects were done.
I’m not a big fan of the buildings that look like objects, but I will admit that at least they are unique in their own ways. What I don’t like that have been there for awhile are the appearances of the two quadrangle dorms on the east side of campus. They are blocks with windows, so they're so ugly, and I lived in one of them for two years. And though we have more than one tree in BG
since we don’t have hills, ponds or things like that on the main portion of the campus, I always thought planting more trees throughout the campus would really add a lot of charm…the way it does with all the trees in quad in front of University Hall. That area is beautiful IMO with the big and numerous trees and the buildings that look, well, like college buildings. McFall Center, University Hall, Mosley and Hanna Halls.
One thing I liked was it looked like some of the "dangerous" trees that were recently removed along the south side of campus were finally replaced. That was nice to see. I just wish they would continue to add more throughout the rest of the campus as well.
Then at least give me the rest of the week to enjoy!
