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Post by owlcountry on Jun 30, 2007 15:31:21 GMT -5
I was on campus last year and one thing that I noticed is that is doesn't look like a university campus as much as a business park. The buildings completely lack character. Everything looks so sanitized and pristine and not in a good way. GO OWLS!!! Very interesting. Can you elaborate? What do you think we should add/change? I read a similar comment on a college message board by a parent of a prospective student. Apparently they took a tour of the campus and felt it didn't feel like a college campus. The student decided not to attend as a result. I asked what they specificially thought was missing and got no answer. I'm sure the buildings don't have pitched roofs to save money and as a result students sometimes say HPT reminds them of a prison. I know the buildings have been painted light colors to reduce the amount of heat they accumulate (the same way that a black car heats up faster than a white car in the Florida sun) and lower our A/C costs. Brogan told me that the buildings aren't red brick because brick is costly in Florida. Furthermore, if you look at the Architecture element of our newest Master Plan, you'll see repeated recommendations that the university maintain its "aesthetic style". Someone actually likes this ****. I also know the buildings are square because rounded surfaces cost more. In fact, I heard a story that the new student recreation center initially had all these interesting angles and curves and facilities planning forced them to make everything square to save money. I could go on for awhile but perhaps the reason why the place has taken on a bit of a business park feel is because FAU wants to appear more professional -- hence the overuse of the FAU (with the wave in the A) in lieu of the Owl head. The good news is that there are several plans in motion to get the Owl logo on-campus. We're looking into streetlight banners and some other projects. I suggested a huge, 6 foot wide birdcage in the bookstore with an Owl inside (doesn't have to be real). I doubt that one is going to come to pass, even though the initial person really liked the idea. But yes, any details/ideas you can provide would be great.
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Post by owlfan1 on Jul 1, 2007 12:00:11 GMT -5
I went to FAU from 1999 to 2002 and the campus has improved in that it has grown and they have added new buildings that are much nicer than some of the concrete monsters that used to be the main buildings on campus. However, I think the new look seems very business park like because it is very clean and modern looking for all of the reasons that you mentioned such as sharp angles, light colors, no brick, etc.
The landscaping is also very minimalist along with there being very little open space on campus. Buildings seem to be crammed together with concrete walkways in every direction. For some this is a nice look. For me personally, it doesn't look very inviting. I prefer lots of open space, mature trees, and old-style brick buildings with character and charm. FAU doesn't have any such buildings. This makes it fit the physical mold of a "commuter school" even though FAU is trying to shed that image.
The biggest thing is that FAU is an urban campus that is situated right in the middle of a busy area. As such, there is little space to build and also have natural areas. These are a few of my thoughts.
GO OWLS!!!
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Post by Lm77 on Jul 1, 2007 12:23:35 GMT -5
The new buildings are not too bad, IMO. The nursing building, library expansion, and other new buildings finally have a consistent look. At UF all buildings are built out of red brick. At the very least, I hope FAU can also achieve a consistent, unique look. Some older buildings really need to be painted, though. The SO building is an eyesore!
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Post by owlcountry on Jul 1, 2007 18:24:03 GMT -5
The new buildings are not too bad, IMO. The nursing building, library expansion, and other new buildings finally have a consistent look. At UF all buildings are built out of red brick. At the very least, I hope FAU can also achieve a consistent, unique look. Some older buildings really need to be painted, though. The SO building is an eyesore! Actually, if you look at modern architecture you'll see that poured concrete is a pretty common component. I didn't understand it for awhile but now it's one of my favorite buildings on campus. My interpretation is that the SO building is life (the trees) in a concrete jungle (the building). That mirrors the idea of social science, which is the study of life (people) in a concrete jungle (i.e. cities) Does that make sense?
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Post by owlcountry on Jul 1, 2007 19:04:32 GMT -5
Thank you for responding. I went to FAU from 1999 to 2002 and the campus has improved in that it has grown and they have added new buildings that are much nicer than some of the concrete monsters that used to be the main buildings on campus. However, I think the new look seems very business park like because it is very clean and modern looking for all of the reasons that you mentioned such as sharp angles, light colors, no brick, etc. Not surprisingly, very very few places even outside of FAU in Boca (or Delray or Coral Springs, whatever) have red brick. For the most part, it's all the same -- light colors and paneling. I know these "other places" aren't colleges but perhaps there's something going on from a cost/architectural standpoint that we don't know (besides what I said). The landscaping is also very minimalist along with there being very little open space on campus. The landscaping has gotten better in the sense that they started taking care of it. There still are very few wide open spaces (Just the Housing quads, quad outside of SO/Administration) but I think that also has to do with the fact that we don't have as much room as, say, UF or UCF. The available space is even more compacted when you consider there is undeveloped land that we don't touch for ethical owl habitat reasons. That is definitely limiting our growth as well. Buildings seem to be crammed together with concrete walkways in every direction. For some this is a nice look. I don't think they'll ever tear down the Breezeway but I sure wish they would. My beef with the sidewalks is actually that they were done haphazardly; large slabs are placed next to thin slabs, sidewalks try to direct traffic in ways that people don't want to go, there are no red brick pavers on the sides of the paths to give it a more distinguished, collegiate look, etc. I'd like them to gut a lot of it out and redo it but I don't see that happening in the near future. For me personally, it doesn't look very inviting. I prefer lots of open space, mature trees, and old-style brick buildings with character and charm. You and everyone else. That being said, a lot of the old-style brick buildings are either a hundred years old or -- in the case with FSU's new college of medicine building -- they have to build new ones that LOOK old (collegiate gothic style) to match the surrounding historic campus. However, I'm going to recommend to people that we start incoporating arches, roman pillars, etched lettering, etc to try to sway the notion a little bit. Again, we're fighting against an architectural recommendation to maintain the look we have and that's not going to be easy without significant student/alumni request for the traditional buildings. That being said, I want to show you something. this is our library on the Davie campus: www.stateuniversity.com/assets/logo/image/820/large/lib.jpgLook how nice that looks compared to our Boca campus library. Explain that. I sure can't.
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Post by Florida_Owl on Jul 1, 2007 19:21:22 GMT -5
I was on campus last year and one thing that I noticed is that is doesn't look like a university campus as much as a business park. The buildings completely lack character. Everything looks so sanitized and pristine and not in a good way. GO OWLS!!! i agree...the new dorms alomst look hospital like...
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Post by owlfan1 on Jul 1, 2007 19:54:53 GMT -5
That does look sharp. I think the Davie library could be built to look like that because it is probably one quarter the size of the Boca library. It may not have broken the budget at that size. Just a thought. GO OWLS!!!
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Post by BMarkey on Jul 1, 2007 22:06:55 GMT -5
The FAU campus is different than typical Southern campuses, but it is still impressive. Some of the business, nursing (science?) buildings, etc. are awesome. The dorm buildings do appear to be minimalist in, say, imagination and beauty. Lush landscaping will make a big improvement. Those Troy dorms become the new defacto campus apartments because the old (1960s-70s) apartments, Dill Hall, were just torn down to make room for a new College of Education building. I lived there in several different rooms (What a time! Especially that Hurricane David party), which were cramped and, well, cramped! (But they beat the prison-style concrete rectangle dorm rooms.) Four people shared two bedrooms and one small kitchen/living area. Cable TV, Internet (Al, Gore hadn't invented it yet) ... nah! Troy (a town of around 15,000 people) has exploded with nicer yet affordable college style apartments just off campus in recent years. So, now the university can focus on nicer suite-style dorms. That won't happen in Boca, so FAU is going to have to add affordable places on campus. Here's a lot more on the new buildings I pictured on the first page of this thread: troy.troy.edu/housing/new_halls/index.html
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Post by illinoisowl on Jul 1, 2007 22:41:52 GMT -5
That is true. FAU will have to provide more housing than a typical unversity would because of the cost of real estate in Boca. FAU might have to buy some land, if there is any, to build off campus housing.
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Post by owlfan1 on Jul 1, 2007 23:20:55 GMT -5
That is true. FAU will have to provide more housing than a typical unversity would because of the cost of real estate in Boca. FAU might have to buy some land, if there is any, to build off campus housing. I think even with the rapid growth FAU does still cater to lots of local kids. Hopefully that means that on-campus housing won't need to grow exponentially. If it does grow rapidly, why not build a couple of 10 story dorms that can hold 1000+ students each?? High rise dorms would fit right in at FAU and they would probably be cheaper in the long run than the cost of land. GO OWLS!!!
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Post by owlcountry on Jul 1, 2007 23:39:41 GMT -5
FAU will have to provide more housing than a typical unversity would because of the cost of real estate in Boca. Exactly. The upside, as you said, is that FAU is essentially FORCED to build more on-campus because of the high cost of Boca (I still think FAU should absorb Bicycle Club, Casa Del Rio, etc). Therefore, I don't think it's unreasonable twenty years out to see 10,000 people living on-campus. I just wish I was attending then instead of now. But perhaps some of you feel the same when you walk onto campus and compare it to the '70's, etc. I also feel consoled because, as you can see from my meeting with Dexter LaMont, I'm trying to incite a lot of change here and as selfish as it may be, I feel good about the fact that ten years from now one of my ideas may be a tradition honored by over a hundred people. Or people are enjoying an amenity I fought for (like an on-campuse leisure pool). And I'm not the only one, of course. We are fortunate to have a President/VP of SG who are adamant about making this a traditional university experience and have met with several higher-up people in regards to how to make that happen. That, coupled with the Innovation Village, should definitely change things around here. FAU might have to buy some land, if there is any, to build off campus housing. I thought of this too. I might have said before.... don't want to search for it now... but I think we should work out deals with developers to absorb land off-campus for student use ASAP. I want to see apartment-style housing in the north, a strip of bars/restaurants on the east, and a nightclub and housing in the south. I think even with the rapid growth FAU does still cater to lots of local kids. Hopefully that means that on-campus housing won't need to grow exponentially. Hopefully won't? I wish it would. The majority of people who attend on-campus events, take up officerships in clubs, and fill the Burrow are residential students. They may do these things to kill time but it actually improves the college experience for everyone. So more people on campus is a better idea. However, given the current on-campus apartments... there's no reason to move on campus (or live on-campus in your upper years). You can get an apartment with someone you know, with a patio and a pool, keep a pet, drink, etc for cheaper off-campus. And that is FAU's main problem for recruiting people to live on-campus. If it does grow rapidly, why not build a couple of 10 story dorms that can hold 1000+ students each?? High rise dorms would fit right in at FAU and they would probably be cheaper in the long run than the cost of land. 10-story is a little high because of the airport. I had previously heard that we cannot build higher than seven stories due to the airport being next door. In an interesting twist, the hospital plan calls for a 9-story building on one section of the hospital... so I suppose land to the east (by the Village Apartments) might have a little more lax standards in terms of height restrictions.
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Post by owlcountry on Jul 1, 2007 23:43:20 GMT -5
The FAU campus is different than typical Southern campuses, but it is still impressive. Some of the business, nursing (science?) buildings, etc. are awesome. I absolutely agree. The main lobby of the Business building is incredible. Has everyone seen it? Here's a kinda blurry picture but it gives you the main idea: The nursing building is also very nice but I'll tell you something: I've tried to walk through there a couple of times (at different times) and the doors are either all locked or there is no one in there. That building is a ghost town. I never see nurses go in or out of it. I really don't understand what's going on over there. But yes, they are pretty and if that's the direction that we're going in, it's definitely nice (inside, anyway... outside could still use some pizazz) Since I was digging through my pictures, here's a sketch I found on a Faculty presentation RE: Innovation Village from the early dome project that shows the apartments... I definitely hope the finished project looks better than that because, once again, they look prison/shoebox-like. Time will tell.
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Post by owlfan1 on Jul 2, 2007 0:12:34 GMT -5
Hopefully won't? I wish it would. The majority of people who attend on-campus events, take up officerships in clubs, and fill the Burrow are residential students. They may do these things to kill time but it actually improves the college experience for everyone. So more people on campus is a better idea. However, given the current on-campus apartments... there's no reason to move on campus (or live on-campus in your upper years). You can get an apartment with someone you know, with a patio and a pool, keep a pet, drink, etc for cheaper off-campus. And that is FAU's main problem for recruiting people to live on-campus. I totally agree. I said "hopefully they won't have to increase housing exponentially" for the sake of the cost to do so. If they can do it on the present land great, I am all for it. Build it high and build it big. Buying land is a whole different issue. University growth is a double edged sword when land is in short supply and high demand. I love the idea of having 10,000 kids on campus, just not if the university has to buy an extra 50 acres at the cost of millions of dollars. GO OWLS!!!
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FAUtuba
Spread The Wings
Posts: 178
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Post by FAUtuba on Jul 2, 2007 0:23:52 GMT -5
I definitely hope the finished project looks better than that because, once again, they look prison/shoebox-like. Time will tell. OMG AWESOME! I heard over the week end that there is a chance that Glades Park Towers may not be ready by move-in day.
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Post by illinoisowl on Jul 2, 2007 6:46:22 GMT -5
This is all interesting. It has to look better than it did in the 70's. BUT, if it is not developing into something attractive and aesthetic, do the members of the board or the architect walk around the campus to look at it? Or do they not care that the campus is developing to look like an office complex? Is the admin happy with the way it is developing?
The university had an opportunity to do a land swap the the BRCH. FAU didn't want the land. That surprised me. It isn't far at all from the campus.
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