New Dorms and Dining

[rabidrabbit]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

I enjoyed many a meal in Grove, and it was always a busling dining facility. I much preferred it over the one between Binnewies and Young. Hardly ate there at all.

Good use for that space between Rotunda and the first set of dorms. I know that those rooms will be booked fast. Middle of campus, in the heart of it all, and convenient to all that SDSU (especially for Engineers, and HEN students)

Ya Ya, this fossil is dating himself

[West-River_Jack]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

This is not a subject of discussion only at State. My daughter recently returned to her alma mater and was horrified to discover modern architecture built next to the classic architectural structures of decades ago. They were not only next to those beautiful buildings but overpowered them totally from her point of view. She feels that it totally destroyed the look of her campus. She not only expressed contempt for the architecture but for the president that allowed it to happen, a president that she knows personally.

[TheBisonator]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

About your comments on Reed-Johnson (Weible) halls, I agree in that they are the ugliest buildings on our campus. Now in the past 10 years, NDSU has built residence halls that are far and away above the design standards of crap on our campus that was built in the 60's. The buildings of the complex I live in, The Bison Courts (built in 2005), are designed very well and represent a great bridge between the traditional style of old buildings on our campus with postmodern styles. Likewise with the LLC complex and the F Court apartments, both built this decade. I just want to say it's not fair to make an architectural judgment about NDSU's campus by looking at just the ****ty dorm complex that we house our freshmen in.

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

it's not fair to make an architectural judgment about NDSU's campus

Wouldn't dream of it.

Reed Johnson is there to highlight the difference between good Modern design (the suite of Sptiz dorms at SDSU) and bad Modern design (Reed Johnson), seeings how there needs to be some contrast drawn to highlight what Spitz did.

Looked up some pics of the Bison Courts---seem a bit blah, but definitely more cohesive than Reed-Johnson

http://www.ndsu.edu/vpur/photo_gallery/bison_court/

Noticed the gal in pic 3 is wearing a "Minnesota" sweatshirt....

[mango4]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

Wouldn't dream of it.

Reed Johnson is there to highlight the difference between good Modern design (the suite of Sptiz dorms at SDSU) and bad Modern design (Reed Johnson), seeings how there needs to be some contrast drawn to highlight what Spitz did.

Looked up some pics of the Bison Courts---seem a bit blah, but definitely more cohesive than Reed-Johnson

http://www.ndsu.edu/vpur/photo_gallery/bison_court/

Noticed the gal in pic 3 is wearing a "Minnesota" sweatshirt....

The girl in pic 3 is wearing a "Minnesota" shirt but I'm almost 1000% guaranteed that is it a Twins T-shirt jersey.

I'm guessing it has Mauer's name on the back like every other girl

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

The girl in pic 3 is wearing a "Minnesota" shirt but I'm almost 1000% guaranteed that is it a Twins T-shirt jersey.

I'm guessing it has Mauer's name on the back like every other girl

Of course, I don't know how 'formal' those shots were, but I do know that--at least when I was enrolled--there was a strict mandate about logos and names appearing in SDSU press photos. That 'Minnesota' would've been photoshopped out. Even if it was a Twins shirt, not a Gophers one. Or the girl would've been given an SDSU pullover.

[Hammersmith]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

It's definitely a Twins shirt(we see thousands of those around here; my friend has several). The shots look pretty informal, so I wonder if they're being used for something they weren't originally intended for.

I do agree that Bison Court is blah. That seems to be the prevailing style at NDSU for the last quarter century. I think the Music Ed building(1982)(best image I can find) was the first of the new generation, and the only change since than has been in the color of the brick. It's sad, but the only remotely interesting buildings NDSU has added in the last 75 years have been in the Research & Tech Park* or buildings purchased and renovated in the new Downtown campus**. My dream would be for NDSU to adopt late-Prairie School as the dominant architectural style. Kinda like Fallingwater but with less Modern influence. If Prairie School is an attempt to create a style for regions that are flat with few trees, there is no more perfect place to build a Prairie School campus than the Red River Valley. I also think it would be quite unique, as I don't know of many universities(if any) that feature Prairie as their dominant style. It would also tie into our ag and engineering roots.

If I were given free reign to rebuild NDSU, there are only eight(maybe nine) buildings that I would deem worth saving. All the rest are boring boxes or ugly pastiches of incompatible styles. Bentson/Bunker Fieldhouse, Ceres Hall, Churchill Hall, Minard Hall, Morrill Hall, Old Main, Putnam Hall, South Engineering, and maybe Engineering and Technology are of value; the rest I wouldn't shed a tear if they vanished overnight.



*Alien Technologies(about to close due to failure of business), Research II, Technology Incubator
**Renaissance Hall, Klai Hall

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

Those are some nice Italianate/Renaissance Revival buildings.

Oddly it looks like NDSU got consistency and coherence early on--which is when SDSU was getting everything from Georgian Revival (Wenona) to Beaux Arts (Administration) to Romanesque Revival (Soberg) to Italianate/Renassance Revival (Ag Expo, Horticulture).

OTOH, SDSU got quite a bit of consistency during the Baby-boom era (Spitz's stuff during the Briggs administration).

Today, the Union's okay, the Performing Arts Center is fantastic, Caldwell is atrocious ('Hi! They used two colors of cinder block on my exterior. That's design, isn't it?). The Enterprise Institute is okay. Dykhouse Center looks like it's going to be a real dog's breakfast. All I can say is I hope they cover it in ivy.

Sadly I've got a pretty low opinion of the quality of work coming out of the dominant Sioux Falls firms these days, and they get preferential treatment on SDSU commissions.

[zooropa]

Re: New Dorms and Dining

This is where the design of Hammersmith's favorite NDSU buildings comes from:


Medici Palace, Florence

The Clock Tower in St. Marks Square, Venice

The Capitol (Campidoglio) in Rome.

Etc.....