New Dorms and Dining

[JACKGUYII]

http://media.www.sdsucollegian.com/m...-3703029.shtml

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

I've seen the sketches of those dorms.

They don't match anything on campus, and I think they're, if nothing else, a testimony to the need for a school of architecture. They're a sort of neo-post-modern-collegiate gothic--a dreadful cliche that I'm pleased SDSU avoided the first time around. Having a school of architecture with graduates working on projects on this campus would, I trust, ensure architecture that displays at least a degree of respect for the architectural traditions of the campus.

Furthermore, it would be nice if the art department were not hemmed in by dorms. But in terms of siting, that's the only reasonable spot for new dorms.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

I've seen the sketches of those dorms.

They don't match anything on campus, and I think they're, if nothing else, a testimony to the need for a school of architecture. They're a sort of neo-post-modern-collegiate gothic--a dreadful cliche that I'm pleased SDSU avoided the first time around. Having a school of architecture with graduates working on projects on this campus would, I trust, ensure architecture that displays at least a degree of respect for the architectural traditions of the campus.

Furthermore, it would be nice if the art department were not hemmed in by dorms. But in terms of siting, that's the only reasonable spot for new dorms.

I think the fact they don't match anything on Campus especially the current dorms is a good thing. I'm not sure what neo-post-modern-collegiate-gothic means, but if it means something different than the status quo of static brick buildings than I'm all for it!

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

There are so many different styles of architecture on campus that any thing they put up will match something and conflict with something else.

And the architecture program is being explored as we speak.

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

There are so many different styles of architecture on campus that any thing they put up will match something and conflict with something else.

And the architecture program is being explored as we speak.

Not exactly true. The Admin building is Beaux Arts, Solberg is Romanesque, the Horticulture Building is Renaissance Revival, Lincoln Music Hall has certain Classical touches, Wecota & Wenona are Georgian revival and everything else is Modern. This was a deliberate program instituted by H.M. Briggs (I interviewed Dr. Briggs on the subject), who used Harold Spitznagel for dang near every building on campus during his tenure over the repeated objections of the Board of Regents (Dr. Briggs told me that the BoR told him that they wanted to 'spread around' the architectural work, and that he told the BoR that the other architectural firms could have the work on the other campuses--that he was only going to work with Spitz).

Every building constructed from 1958 to 1975 (except the union and maybe Dairy Micro) was designed by Spitz's firm, and the quad into which this complex is being inserted was almost entirely of Spitz's doing (Harding Hall was, IIRC, Perkins & McWayne, pre WWII). The Grove complex & the Rotunda/henhouse were both done by Spitz.

Spitznagel did:

Waneta
Hansen
Mathews
Brown
Piersen
Grove Hall
Briggs Library
Frost Arena/Stanley J. Marshall Center
Crothers Engineering
Shepard Hall
Rotunda/Fine Arts
Young
Binnewies
Larson Commons
Medary Commons
Ag Engineering
Dairy Micro(?)

Harold Spitznagel also designed, IMO, the three best 'spaces' on campus: the Briggs library 'reading room' over the entry on the 2nd floor, the Brown Hall commons area, and (apparently) Petersen Recital Hall (formerly the Lincoln Library reading room).

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The Avera sciences complex displays a respect for context that is entirely and utterly lacking in this residence scheme. About the best I can hope for is that the final plans display the respect that the built environment deserves.

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And if SDSU does, in fact, get an architecture program by 2010, they'll be only one hundred years behind the curve for land grant institutions.

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

The new residence hall sketch:



Complete disregard for context. Compare with the Avera Sciences center:

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

Pardon the rant, BTW, the lack of appreciation for SDSU's architectural consistency and the work of Harold Spitznagel drives me up a tree.

[SidelineObserver]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

Work has started on the new dorms and dining facilities. A heck of a big site. Lots of work going on campus right now. Plus there is a Student Union expansion in the near future. Great growing times for SDSU. If I can figure out how to get a picture uploaded of the site I will do so.

[22jack]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

The work being done right now is just the dorms. The dining facilities expansion is the same as the Union expansion and that should start this summer yet also.

[WestSideRabbit]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

Spitznagel did:

Waneta
Hansen
Mathews
Brown
Piersen
Grove Hall
Briggs Library
Frost Arena/Stanley J. Marshall Center
Crothers Engineering
Shepard Hall
Rotunda/Fine Arts
Young
Binnewies
Larson Commons
Medary Commons
Ag Engineering
Dairy Micro(?)

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And if SDSU does, in fact, get an architecture program by 2010, they'll be only one hundred years behind the curve for land grant institutions.

The residence halls that you listed are some of the ugliest buildings on campus. There is nothing to them. If that is what architecture is supposed to look like then well... The new halls were designed to be NEW! Every step of the new hall was put before the Students' Association and focus group for critiques and changes. This is what they wanted. The east side of campus is going to be amazing with the Union, the new residence hall, and the Wellness Center. If Grove Hall is near and dear to you, then I suggest taking a picture soon.

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

The residence halls that you listed are some of the ugliest buildings on campus. There is nothing to them. If that is what architecture is supposed to look like then well... The new halls were designed to be NEW! Every step of the new hall was put before the Students' Association and focus group for critiques and changes. This is what they wanted. The east side of campus is going to be amazing with the Union, the new residence hall, and the Wellness Center. If Grove Hall is near and dear to you, then I suggest taking a picture soon.

1) Those dorms were budget constrained--the rooms are ridiculously small, and the facilities are undersized.

But the proportions, placement, and massing of them are superb. Take a drive around campus sometime. You'll find that many of those dorms 'cap' a city street and form a barrier around the campus, creating a definite city/campus boundary that did not exist before.

Look down 9th Avenue: Hansen Hall terminates it. 14th: Brown Hall, 16th: Binnewies. (with other Spitznagel buildings: 13th is terminated, across the green by Rotunda and the NFA building and the HPER terminates 11th St.)



Here's a contemporary dorm from the neighbors up north:





The NDSU dorm (Reed Johnson Hall) is poorly massed, ill-proportioned, and while the windows are bigger (see earlier mention of budget constraints), the building itself has none of the elegance of massing that Spitz's buildings have. The Spitznagel residences have a 1/3-2/3rds brick and window rhythm (vs. the lack of any proportion between the windows in Reed Johnson Hall), and the building's height is reflected in its floorplan, to create well proportioned setbacks, end-caps, and stair towers:



2) Focus groups are no substitute for talent

3) Grove Hall isn't being demoed--look at the renderings.

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

You want ugly residence halls? Berg/Bailey & Caldwell fit the bill.

[SidelineObserver]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

Seriously, who gives a crap what the buildings look like. At least we have some facilities to further our education in compared to some of our neighbors around the world. It must be slow when people are arguing about the architecture of facilities on campus.

[jacksfaninne]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

1) Those dorms were budget constrained

Would this not be true of nearly every public university project, outside some large donation?

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

I meant 'budget constrained' as in 'unreasonably so....', as in 'we need room for 400 students, but the budget will only accommodate 300'

As in the Stanley Marshall center having its footprint reduced by a third with almost no concession on program requirements.