Brick vs Concrete

College Life
21

<p>Having spent the last two three years looking at different colleges I would prefer brick. Brick buildings follow the old movie concepts of university. Cement buildings often remind me of a sci fi future setting. </p>

<p>Bricks tend to be more photogentic.</p>

22

<p>i like the gothic ruins bit. with the vines rampant and it looks like at any second your dorm could simply collapse due to the poor techniques used by the ancient builders</p>

<p>really keeps you on edge</p>

23

<p>

</p>

<p>It doesn’t snow in UCLA, so that is a silly red herring…</p>

24

<p>That’s why I wrote that it was a non-issue for Cal and UCLA, LOL.</p>

25

<p>I should be partial to concrete, but I like brick/stone better.</p>

26

<p>Gothic was never very appealing to me. I think the concrete does look rather formal and impressive, but again, the brick looks so inviting and aesthetically pleasing. So if I were just visiting… concrete. But to live there… brick.</p>

27

<p>Um, I believe the “concrete” buildings referred to here were all built with stone.</p>

<p>In any case, this distinction is one of the reasons I like Columbia’s campus; it has both the grandeur of neoclassical buildings and the intimacy of redbrick neo-Georgian ones.</p>

28

<p>“Um, I believe the “concrete” buildings referred to here were all built with stone.”</p>

<p>Well, I suppose your right, but concrete has a major stone componet so it counts anyway… Just trying to be as inclusive as possible here.</p>

29

<p>It seems to me, the majority of people here think the concrete/stone buildings seem more like places of power or status, like Washington D.C. or state capitals, where as brick seems to be a more altruistic place of learning and beauty?</p>

<p>Or do I have it all wrong?</p>

30

<p>Are you writing a paper on this?</p>

31

<p>“Are you writing a paper on this?”</p>

<p>Heh…no. </p>

<p>It came out of an arugment with a friend about the impression some shcools have on visitors and new students.</p>

32

<p>Ah. Just curious.</p>

<p>Cuz it’s just so official or something.</p>

<p>And because it hasn’t degenerated into something completely unrelated, which is really rare around here lately.</p>

33

<p>I’ll take colonial brick. The Harvard photo looks best out of the four you provided. </p>

<p>Something like this:
<a href=“Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!”>Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!;

<p>or this:
<a href=“Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!”>Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!;

<p>would be perfect (that’s Washington and Lee University)</p>

34

<p>I still love Powell.</p>

<p>But that could be because I spend my life in there for a total of 6 weeks every year.</p>

35

<p>Regardless of what the above buildings are makde of, they are still better than modern concrete buildings such as this one at St. John’s in MN.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.csbsju.edu/sjuphysicalplant/science.html[/url]”>http://www.csbsju.edu/sjuphysicalplant/science.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I hate Marcel Breuer!</p>

36

<p>whoa - why did they do that strange thing on the outside?</p>

37

<p>Your guess is as good as mine. This is my dad’s Alma mater, so I have been around it a lot as it is only 20 minutes from my home. All I know is that there are some really nice old red brick buildings, but all of the newer ones are concrete like the one in the link before. My best guess why they did that funky thing on the outside is to mirror the honey comb stained glass window on the back wall of the Abbey Church (see below). Even the Church looks like an airplane hanger and is made out of concrete. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.mennoweekly.org/IMAGES/SJU-WEB/abbeychurch.jpg[/url]”>http://www.mennoweekly.org/IMAGES/SJU-WEB/abbeychurch.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.drexlermusic.com/photos/images/200506280014w.jpg[/url]”>http://www.drexlermusic.com/photos/images/200506280014w.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

38

<p>“And because it hasn’t degenerated into something completely unrelated, which is really rare around here lately.”</p>

<p>Give it a little more time…things are bound to get stupid.</p>

<p>By the way, I am all for concrete-style like Berkeley, though I didn’t realize UCLA was so pretty. I was thoroughly disappointed by Harvard when I saw it, but Chicago and UPenn are incredible looking.</p>

39

<p>UCLA is gorgeous. Well, North campus (liberal arts side) is. South campus is generally pretty ugly. But its ok because south campus people never see the outside of those buildings anyway (science, math). </p>

<p>And wow. That’s a pretty hideous building up there.</p>

40

<p>Bleck- I hate those new boring concrete buildings. </p>

<p>Also, I know the whole snow thing is a moot point in CA, but it may as well be addressed. I personally like the way snow cleans everything up. It may make concrete buildings seem cold and uninviting, but it works wonders on brick and gothic:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nd.edu/aboutnd/about/sights/images/wall_snowdome800.jpg[/url]”>404 - Not Found | University of Notre Dame;
<a href=“http://www.painetworks.com/photos/hz/hz2622.JPG[/url]”>http://www.painetworks.com/photos/hz/hz2622.JPG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;