Tuesday, January 27
On January 27th, we explored the main quad and engineering quad. This tour took us all the way from TBH to the Beckman Institute, which apparently Prof. Hinders doesn't like... more on that later. We started with the Undergraduate Library. I always wondered if UGL was supposed to stand for "underground library." We noted its significance to the Morrow Plots, and also how the empty courtyard space in the middle serves as a way to make the building bigger and filled with light. Pictured below is Foellinger Auditorium, whose front side is elegant and grand. We have earlier noted that the ACES library does a horrible job "copying" Foellinger's grandeur.
All of the buildings are coming together to a table (the main quad) to have a conversation with one another. At this university, we can use the word "universe" to describe the unity of many colleges at a place of learning. Each building comes to the quad with something different to share, and they are equally important. However, the Union and Foellinger Auditorium are the two which are far more important.
Shown above is the axis splitting the quad in half. A train used to run through along this path, a tram of sorts. What no longer exists as such a train is now a bike path. Further away in the photo, you can see the short walls and nearby trees that used to form a tunnel of trees. The hedges and walls were taller at one time, but they were shortened for women's safety at night. Also, the hedges are what make the buildings who they are. The consistency in the greenery of these buildings allows for more interesting building fronts, and all the buildings are aligned with the quad. Two other things I didn't realize is that there have been multiple Union buildings; and the Illini Union is supposed to be shaped like a "Block I" but failed to do so due to an important small building in the way.
The next thing we did was travel to the Bardeen Quadrangle. I love this place. The engineering quad is graced by the Boneyard Creek, shown below. There is an axis-shift because of the important Engineering Hall which is rather in the way of a perfectly aligned axis.
The main focal point of the quad is, of course, Grainger Engineering Library. It has an off-center construction, but the balcony half-circle "calls" to the balcony/porch of the Engineering Hall.
Next, we crossed over Springfield Avenue, where the axis shifts back to nearly its original east-west position. You can see below that there is a gateway of sorts, with several buildings on each side. The main attraction is the Beckman Institute at the end. Digital Computer Lab (right, below) is my favorite! :)
Pictured in the above two photos: the new ECE Building. How exciting! It's beautifully constructed and has quite a bit of cool art in front.
I conclude with the Beckman Institute (interior pictured). The problems that Professor Hinders has with it are:
1) The front of it looks like a big dick. Interesting.
2) It has an uninteresting exterior pattern.
3) Worst of all, it serves as a wall to block off the poor communities north of University Avenue. I completely agree with Hinders on this one. It's clearly a problem that there is no gateway from the north side of campus into the North Quad. What a horrible, uninviting wall has been created. I disagree that there are racial implications involved. That community isn't just black people. It's poor people, so it is unfortunate that they are not "socially allowed" into the building, and the university.
Thursday, January 29
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION was quite apparent here.
We visited Abbott Power Plant on Oak Street. There was so much to learn about this place. I was extremely impressed by the numbers, machinery, and exciting engineering involved in making as much power and steam as they do. This clearly didn't interest the rest of the class, but I thought it was all pretty cool.
The power plant itself was constructed out of multiple levels such that the floors were built around the machinery, such that metal grate floor were connected by ladders, interspersed with massive generators and some huge jet engines, too.
My favorite part was definitely when the tour guide opened up the huge coal-burning oven. It was incredible to look inside and see the orange flames dancing around, so mean and vicious, yet contained within this behemoth of an oven. The systems all work together in an very unified way. The steam is used to produce electricity, but the leftover steam is cooled through a complicated process, collecting as much usable energy as possible, before its un-condensed form is finally sent to campus through the steam tunnels - which they strongly enforced we should never enter. I still hope to someday.
There was a lot to learn - and much that cannot be written here. Since photos were not permitted, I did not take any notes on my phone. The tour was mostly numbers and names of machines which are so incredibly beyond my understanding. It was also very difficult to hear with the noises of the machinery... I'm glad we used earplugs!
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