DiabloWags said:annarborbear said:
I remember complaining about Wurster's appearance to some of my architecture student friends, and they responded that it is a great design because "it looks wet when it rains". I guess there's that.
It was "wet" when I attended CAL because of all of the sorority girls that studied on 2nd floor Wurster.
It truly was the "place" to be.
Good times!
calumnus said:GivemTheAxe said:Big C said:WalterSobchak said:Big +1 from me. I used to go walk around or sit in Doe sometimes just to improve my mood. Always makes me feel better. Went into Moffit late in our last semester with some friends because they had to meet someone or something and when I casually commented that I'd never been in there before everyone looked at me like I was crazy.dimitrig said:
I don't know why anyone goes to Moffitt for any reason ever.
My favorite building was the Doe Library.
Also, wish I knew about the lounges up in Evans. I always figured it must have great views but never explored. When/why did Barrows stop being Barrows? Barrows and Haas are where I spent most of my time.
I liked Moffitt because it was ugly... no distractions. (ADHD)
As far as ugliest buildings, it was clear to me:
3. Kroeber: plenty ugly, but not that big... and stuck off in the corner of campus near Boalt
2. Barrows: Not ugly but not at all good looking, way too big and close to the (outside) center of campus, visible from a distance, even by car. People arriving to campus from points south would see (yuk) Barrows.
1. Evans: Big and ugly. A monstrosity. (dimitrig, glad you have fond memories from the inside).
If I had it to do over again, I would definitely explore some of the out-of-the way libraries and spots on campus.
I lived way off of campus at Various apartments. So I would spend the entire day on campus and would not go home until it was time to watch Johnny Carson.
The main part of my day when I wasn't in class or on
My job at the Student Union or taking part in extra curricular activities I was somewhere in One of the Campus libraries. I tried to study in every library on campus at one time or another. Most of the time I was at Doe
Cal has some great libraries and never had a bad experience in any of them. But Doe was not only a spectacular building but it was a great place to mingle and meet women. Because of the setting it was always easy to start up a conversation with a cute coed. In fact I met the coed who eventually became my wife in the main reading room at Doe.
I studied some at Moffat but it was too easy to fall asleep at a cubicle there. The Main Reading Room at Doe was beautiful, but the large number of people and enforced silence, inevitably broken up by coughing, or the screeching of a chair on the floor with annoyed shushes was too intense and was off putting to me.
The Morrison Reading Room was great. The second floor had turntable, earphones and a jazz and classical collection. I would study while listening and exploring.
One of my personal favorites was the philosophy library at Moses Hall. On cold winter days they would sometimes have a fire in the fireplace.
Mostly I studied in Berkeley cafes, back then you could get a great cappuccino for 60 cents. I was happy to spend most of an afternoon or evening there, usually classical music in the background, a murmur of conversation, cute girls, kept me awake and happy to be studying,
73bear said:
My best friend's father was an architect who specialized in public buildings, including a lot of school buildings. Mammoth High School was an example of his architecture. He believed that school buildings should not be intended to stand for more than 50 years, because the technology would be too far gone to save in that time. Evans' demise fits his time line perfectly.
What technology was he referring to? There have been advancements in seismic retrofitting following Loma Prieta much of which was developed (base isolators) and implemented at Cal.73bear said:
My best friend's father was an architect who specialized in public buildings, including a lot of school buildings. Mammoth High School was an example of his architecture. He believed that school buildings should not be intended to stand for more than 50 years, because the technology would be too far gone to save in that time. Evans' demise fits his time line perfectly.
Chabbear said:
I bet that most architects want to design new buildings more than renovate old buildings especially since they "know" that 95% or more of old buildings are nothing special. Old building are seen as too much trouble and that no matter what will never be as safe, energy efficient or useful as a new building. The special old buildings such as the Hearst Mining Building are the exception. I have worked with architects on community college projects and they almost universally recommend a new building to a renovation even if a old building was considered special by the community.
instead of bad architects, my take on teh brutalist concrete building is bad budget. Such buildings are just cheaper. Fancy good looking exteriors cost more. A lot of colleges put up ugly buildings back in the 60's and 70's bcos the capital budget went farther that way.GivemTheAxe said:Chabbear said:
I bet that most architects want to design new buildings more than renovate old buildings especially since they "know" that 95% or more of old buildings are nothing special. Old building are seen as too much trouble and that no matter what will never be as safe, energy efficient or useful as a new building. The special old buildings such as the Hearst Mining Building are the exception. I have worked with architects on community college projects and they almost universally recommend a new building to a renovation even if a old building was considered special by the community.
If this is true it demonstrates the arrogance of most architects.
The community grew up with tne old building. The community must live with the new building. The architect is just passing through like a stranger on a passing train.
Yet the archery believes he or she can impose their will on the community
It was bad architects (working for incompetent administrators) who gave us Evans hall to begin
with like that monstrosity on Telegraph, i. e. the Building from Mordor. [yes I know it is a private not a university building]
