I chose the quad because it seems like this is a very important historical place on campus. My aunt live in Weil-Winfield when she came to UNCG several years ago. The quad's values seem to focus on the community-type feel. In my diagram below, you can see that it is made up of 8 building with 3 on each side and 1 on each end.
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.
Peabody Park is another interesting area on campus. The donation from George Peabody in 1901 created the park, which was originally 125 acres. Due to campus expansion, the park is now about 34 acres in size. I think that the reduction on the park says a lot about the values of the school and the area.
The golf course.
The walking path.
The view from the top of the golf course.
Peabody Park has been changed several times over the years due to the expansion of campus. We learned that there was a dairy on it which supplied the school with all of it's milk for a period of time. There was also an 18-hole golf course [for women] but now it is a 5 hole practice course. The fact that the campus has changed the land from park to sports/recreational area shows how the university values not only academics, but also athletics.
This is a picture of the park down in front of the Music Building.
I think that the value of Peabody Park focuses not only on athletics, but the growth of the university. Obviously, the buildings that have been built on the land and reduced the size of the park are considered important, or else they wouldn't have been built. However, the fact that the park still exists at all shows a tie to the history of the campus, which is a good value. Sometimes we get so caught up in the futuristic and modern look of things and we forget to appreciate how history has shaped it all.
The Moore Humanities and Research Administration Building, or MHRA, is located on Spring Garden St. in line with several other classroom/office buildings. This building is unique, however, because it combines both offices with classrooms. Why? I think that they are combined to show the values of togetherness and openness in the community. If you have a question from class that day, you can pop in and see the professor. It seems to make everything more accessible and a friendly environment. The floor at the entrance has ripples in the tile, which models many of the other buildings that we've seen. This gives it a sense of uniformness, in that they all belong together [from the same time period], but they are all different buildings.
Here is the view at the entrance.
Another show of university values are the bike racks in front of every building. It shows how accessible and modern the campus is, because it offers a way to store your environmentally friendly mode of transportation.
Its cool how you used the picture of peabody park's before and after display to emphasize values. Great pictures, you must have gone out of your way to get these in outside of class time.
ReplyDeletegood observation about the multiple layers of meaning with the quad. what's interesting is your characterization of the multiple meanings in the mhra and in peabody park.
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