MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Mendenhall

Our class today walked along Mendenhall street right off campus. We looked at the progressive architecture. Here are some images from the street. Starting at one end (Market Street) and going to the other end (Spring Garden Street).

College Hill

Today we visited college hill. It is a neighborhood located in between UNC Greensboro and Greensboro College. We gave the students a worksheet to answer while we were walking. Rachel and I decided to do out own worksheet and take pictures. The worksheets are posted below and the pictures can be found on Rachel's blog: http://hss105-01.blogspot.com/

Here is the worksheet for Tate Street, from Spring Garden St. to Carr St.
Here is the worksheet for Tate Street, from Carr St. to Market St.

Great Examples | Assessing Value

Today in class we toured all around campus, focusing on five main areas: the Library, Peabody Park, The Bryan Building, MHRA, and The Gatewood Building. The students were to assess the value of these different places. Here are some excerpts from student's blogs...

[speaking of the MHRA] The wide array of purposes brings in a wide array of people, showing a new value of having different generations and scholars in one building.
-Katie Tester

An interesting thing about the quad is the trees on either side on each building and how they add to the effect of a community, but were planted there by a landscaper. That shows that maybe the campus/architect wanted to create specific values for that space.
The quad mostly houses upperclassmen and seems to have a sort of exclusivity because of that. I think that a lot of the sororities and fraternities are "housed" in this area. Walking along the pathways, you could see the decorations on the sidewalk with the symbols of sororities and fraternities. I think that the quad's values center on a community, togetherness, and unification through the symmetricality of the area.
-Caitlin Gault

There are many values portrayed through different buildings and areas on UNCG campus. one that interested me was the library tower. some of the values i see in the library tower are superiority, importance and a kind of landmark on the campus. its superiority comes with the fact that it stands higher than the other buildings on the campus. it is made of white stone material rather than the common brick. this makes the building stand out among the others in a way to give it superiority. the importance value tacks on to that because it shows that the building serves a special purpose, books. it is the place you can go when you need to do research or to study. the landmark value ties into the importance because it is viewable all around campus. just look for the tall white library tower and you know automatically where you are.
-Katie Walters

Great Examples | [re]centering

For the [re]centering exercise we took the class around campus to the EUC, Jackson Library, and the Caf. We talked with the students about centers in buildings, how to identify them, and what they represent. Here are some excerpts from their blogs that show a great understanding of the centers on campus:

"Each of these buildings in the blog represent the center in my perspective a great way. First, there is the uniqueness of the center. In each center, there is the special part of the building that makes it stick out. It could have been the circle of lights in the EUC, the library's amazing art style and signs, or even the abstract wall of the Dining Hall. Second, it is the resourcefulness of the building. Each center must be put to great use and it must have a developed style to it. The EUC, for example, has the bookstore and the two-story food court. Plus, there are many meeting rooms where people study and try to connect with nature, meditate, or even just play around. Also, the Dining Hall has the Post Office, a popular market, and of course, the Caf. The Jackson Library has the group study rooms and the big halls for studying and study parties. Plus, it has the art and noticeable spots that attract people to the area."
- Taylor McAlister

[speaking about the EUC] “In this building one of the centers was located between the EUC café and the bookstore. It aligned with the other drum that included circular stairs and an information booth to help the students. Between the two drums are convenience stores such as a small market shop and a Starbucks café. This center is informative, and yet a place for social gatherings.”
-Jazzy Parker


“Elliott University Center The center point of the EUC seems to be the circular drum in the front of the building. The patterns around the wall are symmetrical in design so that each part of the room seems to be equal in importance. There are lights at the top of the drum shape shining down to the floor below.”
-Sara Cifelli


"In the EUC there is the drum at the entrance between the bookstore and food court. I had never taken the time to really notice the detail in the entrance drum. The lines up the walls, the white portions around the windows that make a pattern, and the blue light on the ceiling. Many people travel through this area, and it is along the axis of the space. At the other end of the hall, the axis, is the circular staircase, another center. The stairs connect the floors, the back entrance to the main floor, and so on. This stairway is also a center in the idea of balance."
-Katie Tester


"I understand centers to be places that signify both importance and heavily frequented areas. To me, a building can have many centers throughout, not just in the entrance of the building. A center could be a point of intersection where major paths meet as well as a place that has many other places to choose from."
-Rodney Coulston


"A center should be impressive, and should not only give the building a feeling of importance, but a feeling of importance to the person standing in it as well."
-Andrew Clark

campus wrap-up

We have been examining our "mini-city" of UNC at Greensboro and how all the different buildings relate to each other as a whole. This map above shows all the different parts of campus. The purple coloring shows the Turf. I have highlighted areas at UNCG where only sports are played to represent this specific kind of turf. The "District" I have colored in dark green. I highlighted the quad area, this is a district where usually only upper classmen and greek life stays. The strip is at the very bottom of the map - on E. Lee street. It is where there is growth and movement constantly going on. UNCG also plans on growing that direction in the future. The beat I have colored in is blue in the middle, the Fountain area. This is a beat in campus, because it is where people stop and meet friends, eat, or study. It is an important part of UNCG campus and represents a lot of college life and activity. Lastly, the "Vantage" I have found at UNCG is unique to me. It is the Studio Arts Building. I am an Interior Architecture student and really enjoy doing what I do. When I am there I have a different vantage point of UNCG and, as clay would say, I am "removed from the norm".

The image above is a "stack" on campus. It is pushed to the edge of campus mainly because it is not used by students, however it provides all the heating and cooling for campus. A stack is described as extra stuff stacked up, or materials stacking up. In this case it is a physical smoke stack, with the functions stacking up.

This image is of a "sink". It is peabody park near the music building. It has been pushed to the edge of campus and it is literally a depression in the landscape.

These two images above are of a "fix". Clay described one particular kind of fix as a cross-section. If you took a space you were examining and sliced it in half, you would explore one side. However, this could be deceiving to study because you would only have half the history or evidence you need. The science building is the first image, a modern building built in 2004, while the image below it is of the 320 McIver building built in the 1020's. These two are right across the street from each other, proving a cross-section may not provide you with all the information and history.

This image is of Tate St. on the very edge of campus. I am letting this represent a "Front". This is where campus/education ends and residential/office space begins in the city of Greensboro.

Thick Description

Today we looked at The Foust Hall on UNCG campus. We spoke about what makes up the building, some things students mentioned were the rough facade, the air conditioning units sticking out the windows, the stone balcony, the prominent roof and chimneys, arched windows, horizontal banding, "weathered" looking brick, and weep holes. Then we went on to talk about what the building did NOT have in comparison to other buildings on campus. Some things mentioned were white trim around the windows and doors, a flat roof, electrical lines running from other buildings/poles, exterior fire escape stairwells, and a large attic.
We also spoke about how this building related to others on campus. In relation to Spring Garden St and College Ave, the building faces Spring Garden, and leaves little of itself to face College Ave. When Foust was newly built there were many buildings on campus that looked identical to it in terms of style, but now those buildings have been torn down, and more "modern" buildings have grown around it. Here are some images of Foust Hall and our class studying it.