Ugly College Campuses

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Well, I thought IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology) was the ugliest college campus I had ever seen ( I drive through it on my way to work). But I would have to say that Oral Roberts University beats it by a mile, or 10.</p>

<p>Check it out: oru.edu. Is modern architecture an acquired taste?</p>

2

<p>Wow @ oru.edu (the Campus Tour section of the website). Apparently buildings are designed to be more than buildings… such as four towers shaped to represent the Star of David (<a href=“http://www.oru.edu/aboutoru/towers.php[/url]”>http://www.oru.edu/aboutoru/towers.php&lt;/a&gt;), or the visitor center designed to look like a modern cross with a spiral to represent man’s relationship with God (<a href=“http://www.oru.edu/aboutoru/prayertower.php[/url]”>http://www.oru.edu/aboutoru/prayertower.php&lt;/a&gt;). </p>

<p>Anyway, not really my style.</p>

3

<p>Actually, the building in the second link would fit nicely in Flushing Meadows Park, where you can still see the remains of some of the buildings from the World’s Fair in the early 60’s.</p>

4

<p>welllllll, it reminds of some eastern european campus, built in the 60s trying to look modern</p>

<p>harsh looking and a bit angry in the archeticture</p>

5

<p>From the links the campus looks sterile and oddly futuristic. The very stiff buildings don’t look softened by landscaping.</p>

6

<p>yeah, it looks Mean to me…all sharp edges and points</p>

<p>very bad feunshui</p>

7

<p>Drexel is pretty bad. Texas A&M, while having some great attributes, is ugly.</p>

8

<p>The two ugliest campuses I’ve seen were Central Missouri State U. (now called " University of Central Missouri") in Warrensburg and Central State U, Wilberforce, Ohio. Uglier than prisons.</p>

9

<p>Ahh- another topic resurfaces. Previous discussions;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=348564[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=348564&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=81646[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=81646&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=178234[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=178234&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>Actually, I thought University of North Texas was pretty ugly…on the outside of the buildings. The insides were spectacular (at least the ones WE saw were). But the outsides were all ugly yellow brick square buildings with absolutely no character at all. The architect who added new buildings did maintain the architectural integrity of the buildings with the new ones…UGLY. Oh…the exception to the square buildings is the music performing space which is fondly called the Armedillo…because it looks like one. It too is spectacular on the inside, but the outside is just plain odd.</p>

11

<p>A&M is definitely ugly. Uglier is Texas A&M at Galveston.</p>

12

<p>Hmm. The ORU buildings look like they were designed by a committee with money and an agenda, but no artistic sense.</p>

<p>Not my cup of tea. OTOH, I hate campuses that are boring and made of rectangular brick/glass boxes.</p>

13

<p>Patsimae, I must agree that, when driving through the campus, IIT is indeed ugly. However, if you go inside a building–from the architecture studios to the newest award-winning dorm to the student union pictured below, IIT is quite beautiful and architecturally exciting. ORU…hmmm…never been inside.</p>

<p><a href=“Waterloo Architecture | Architecture”>Waterloo Architecture | Architecture;

14

<p>IIT is nothing compared to fortress UIC. We actually had a debate with some IITers on whose campus was uglier. UIC’s east campus architectual style is called brutalism.</p>

15

<p>That is true, it’s a tossup between UIC and IIT.</p>

<p>Husband and I toured UIC last spring and they have done a nice job with the landscaping. Softens up the stark modern feeling of the campus.</p>

16

<p>Drexel topped our list of bad college campuses. I also could not stand Syracuse; although the academic quad is quite nice, the rest looked like the rest of Syracuse…an industrial city down on its luck.</p>

17

<p>I nominate University of Dallas, in scenic Irving, Texas, nestled between State Highway 114 and State Highway 183.</p>

18

<p>The New Brutalism was a really unfortunate period in architectural design. Quite a few otherwise nice campuses have samples. Here’s Carnegie Mellon’s version: <a href=“http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wean_hall.jpg[/url]”>http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wean_hall.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

19

<p>New brutalism at its worst (best?). The widely hated Humanities Building at UW-Madison.</p>

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<p>A deceased faculty member: “Occasionally … could be blunt, once referring to the Humanities Building as a mausoleum.”</p>

<p>But see: <a href=“http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=343499[/url]”>http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=343499&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And as a footnote to nothing, I hate the HUD building in DC. From the outside it looks like it was built by an unreconstructed Stalinist. It’s is worse on the inside, almost impossible to find where you are going.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=146#[/url]”>http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=146#&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

20

<p>New Brutalism fans should make certain to check out Robarts Library at the University of Toronto. Probably the one and only example of Colossalist Whimsical Brutalism. I think it’s supposed to be a peacock. It’s the largest building on campus – absolutely dominates for blocks around.</p>

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