273 replies to this topic

[DigitalSky]

Wow, nice pics, UNCC is looking really nice!  I was there earlier today actually for a Calculus review session.  It looked like there was alot going on.

[AuLukey]

Nice pictures, maybe next is campus at night.  I love the lighting they use on some of the buildings like Friday and Robinson with its "Funky Balls."  It's an entirely different place at night.

[unccmyway]

you're right.  I love the area between the library, halton arena and the old belk gym at night.  The lamps line the sidewalk.  I don't know how my camera would do at night but I will try it before I leave.

[AuLukey]

unccmyway, on Apr 29 2006, 11:15 PM, said:

you're right.  I love the area between the library, halton arena and the old belk gym at night.  The lamps line the sidewalk.  I don't know how my camera would do at night but I will try it before I leave.

Anybody know what the library is supposed to look like when it's done?  It's eyesore right now, hope all this work is worth it.

[unccmyway]

Here are the renderings
http://library.uncc....ion/renderings/

[AuLukey]

unccmyway, on Apr 29 2006, 11:34 PM, said:

Here are the renderings
http://library.uncc....ion/renderings/

Haha, I never thought to look on Charlotte's website.  It normally makes simple things impossibly hard to find.

Oh, and for those wondering about highway 49, here's an update on the new entrance, it will be completed by the spring 07 semester.

http://www.nineronli...5/444e447f0317c

[Skyline49er]

aussie luke, on Apr 30 2006, 12:04 AM, said:

Haha, I never thought to look on Charlotte's website.  It normally makes simple things impossibly hard to find.

Oh, and for those wondering about highway 49, here's an update on the new entrance, it will be completed by the spring 07 semester.

http://www.nineronli...5/444e447f0317c

Thanks aussie luke, I like the idea of the new entrance, it is definitely overdue.

[Miesian Corners]

Thanks for the photo tour, UNCC. I do have to wonder about some of the modern buildings you chose to show as comparisons, though. Nobody thinks Kennedy is a good building, but Colvard, Fretwell, and Reese are great buildings architecturally. Colvard won an AIA award the year it was built.

The fact that the new Engineering school looks like the most UNengineered building ever constructed doesn't say much for the quality of work that we all know takes place in there. The idea of nine brick columns lining University City Blvd is even more insulting. I spend my life in McEniry, a building where the floor tiles are peeling up, the ceiling tiles are stained, the air conditioning either freezes you to death or makes you feel like you're in sub-Saharan Africa. This university can spend money on stupid things like a new entrance and doric columns for the College of Engineering, but it can't fix an InFocus projector in a lecture hall that's been inoperative the entire Spring semester? Infuriating! To top it all off, renderings were released recently showing the new facade of the front of the bookstore. What?!! There's nothing wrong with it. They're going to spend God-knows how much money doing nothing to the interior, but the exterior is getting...you guessed it...red brick. Again, why is that InFocus machine not fixed in McEniry? Oh yeah, that's right, they don't have any money for it.  

Ooooh.  Ahhhh.  Here's our tax dollars and tuition at work:
.

Edited by Miesian Corners, 30 April 2006 - 08:50 PM.

[dubone]

At least red brick is a local building material.  

That rendering is definitely odd, though.

[AuLukey]

Miesian Corners, on Apr 30 2006, 10:35 PM, said:

Thanks for the photo tour, UNCC. I do have to wonder about some of the modern buildings you chose to show as comparisons, though. Nobody thinks Kennedy is a good building, but Colvard, Fretwell, and Reese are great buildings architecturally. Colvard won an AIA award the year it was built.

The fact that the new Engineering school looks like the most UNengineered building ever constructed doesn't say much for the quality of work that we all know takes place in there. The idea of nine brick columns lining University City Blvd is even more insulting. I spend my life in McEniry, a building where the floor tiles are peeling up, the ceiling tiles are stained, the air conditioning either freezes you to death or makes you feel like you're in sub-Saharan Africa. This university can spend money on stupid things like a new entrance and doric columns for the College of Engineering, but it can't fix an InFocus projector in a lecture hall that's been inoperative the entire Spring semester? Infuriating! To top it all off, renderings were released recently showing the new facade of the front of the bookstore. What?!! There's nothing wrong with it. They're going to spend God-knows how much money doing nothing to the interior, but the exterior is getting...you guessed it...red brick. Again, why is that InFocus machine not fixed in McEniry? Oh yeah, that's right, they don't have any money for it.

Ok, here's the run-down.  Point your blame on the IT department for that inFocus projector.  The school itself has nothing to do with when or if that gets fixed or replaced.  I asked about one before and the answer I got was they had to order a part for it.... yea.  

The thing about renovating the bookstore's outside instead of the inside is simple.  They aren't going to touch that interior until the bookstore moves out.  When will that happen?  Relatively soon, I won't still be there when it happens (I hope) but it is moving into the new Student Union that they will start on once the new parking deck across from Woodward opens.  They had to do it in that order because constructing the SU will knock out about 90% of the spaces behind burson and the new health/nursing/etc college building.  

The school has money seeping out of its pours.  I say the facade is actually needed because those umbrellas out in front of the bookstore suck.  Just pester IT about that projector, they'll get it fixed if it's that important to them for you to stop bugging them.  McEniry is still going under massive renovations even though they have reopened parts of the building.  So don't worry about the tiles, they should be getting replaced in due time.

[Miesian Corners]

aussie luke, on Apr 30 2006, 11:45 PM, said:

Ok, here's the run-down. Point your blame on the IT department for that inFocus projector. The school itself has nothing to do with when or if that gets fixed or replaced. I asked about one before and the answer I got was they had to order a part for it.... yea.

The thing about renovating the bookstore's outside instead of the inside is simple. They aren't going to touch that interior until the bookstore moves out. When will that happen? Relatively soon, I won't still be there when it happens (I hope) but it is moving into the new Student Union that they will start on once the new parking deck across from Woodward opens. They had to do it in that order because constructing the SU will knock out about 90% of the spaces behind burson and the new health/nursing/etc college building.

The school has money seeping out of its pours. I say the facade is actually needed because those umbrellas out in front of the bookstore suck. Just pester IT about that projector, they'll get it fixed if it's that important to them for you to stop bugging them. McEniry is still going under massive renovations even though they have reopened parts of the building. So don't worry about the tiles, they should be getting replaced in due time.

No, actually those floor tiles in McEniry aren't getting replaced.  Not part of the budget (I checked).  Neither are the elevators that have never worked.  The only things being upgraded are the restrooms and the HVAC system.  The IT Dept has been aware of the screwed up InFocus machine since January (last day of classes is day after tomorrow).  Much like they are aware of the two printers in Barnard Computer Commons that have been out of service since Feb, they have done nothing.

[Rickydavisfan21]

sounds like you need to write a letter to the president of the college, or at least the head of the department

[AuLukey]

Miesian Corners, on Apr 30 2006, 11:56 PM, said:

No, actually those floor tiles in McEniry aren't getting replaced.  Not part of the budget (I checked).  Neither are the elevators that have never worked.  The only things being upgraded are the restrooms and the HVAC system.  The IT Dept has been aware of the screwed up InFocus machine since January (last day of classes is day after tomorrow).  Much like they are aware of the two printers in Barnard Computer Commons that have been out of service since Feb, they have done nothing.

Hey, don't bash those elevators.  I've had some good times and great memories in those.  

[Rufus]

the engineering building looks fine.  it doesnt need a fancy design to be attractive or to even get students.  the building does its job to house classrooms.  chill out about the design.  there are many schools around the country that have engineering buildings in the Georgian style, and they have top programs.  how a building looks in terms of maintaining campus fluidity is what was focused in this design.  they wanted to make the school look more uniform and sophisticated. sorry that it upsets you, but to many it doesnt, just ask chancellor DuBois.  They are trying to make the school look attractive and pedestrian friendly, just at UNCW.

[cinco]

Rufus, on May 1 2006, 02:33 PM, said:

the engineering building looks fine.  it doesnt need a fancy design to be attractive or to even get students.  the building does its job to house classrooms.  chill out about the design.  there are many schools around the country that have engineering buildings in the Georgian style, and they have top programs.  how a building looks in terms of maintaining campus fluidity is what was focused in this design.  they wanted to make the school look more uniform and sophisticated. sorry that it upsets you, but to many it doesnt, just ask chancellor DuBois.  They are trying to make the school look attractive and pedestrian friendly, just at UNCW.

well, one would expect something a little more challenging from a school with such a high-esteemed architecture program.

[ngp]

Uniformity is overrated. It's so 1789.

UNCC, thanks for the tour! Aussie Luke wasn't lying when he said there have been lots of changes in the past five years.

[dubone]

Every campus in the UNC system and community colleges have seen significant building as a result of the multibillion dollar bond package approved in 2000.  I would not be surprised if the reason we are seeing a lot of brick in designs of all of the buildings resulting from the bond package is the pressure to put back as much of that bond money into NC businesses and contractors.  NC makes bricks, so brick designs result.

I hardly think that using red brick has created any uniformity.  The buildings are different, even if they use columns and traditional architectural elements.   Also, all the campuses have some different kinds of buildings as built in the past few decades.  Most likely there would be a pendulum swing and we'll see more modern designs in the future.  But for now, I'm not sure I see the problem with these neo-traditional designs.  

At least they are attractive for laymen.  Nothing worse than a lowest-bid-building-design that no one likes, or a highly intellectual architectural masterpiece that most people don't "get" (although a few of those don't hurt).

[moonshield]

Miesian Corners, on Apr 30 2006, 11:56 PM, said:

No, actually those floor tiles in McEniry aren't getting replaced.  Not part of the budget (I checked).  Neither are the elevators that have never worked.  The only things being upgraded are the restrooms and the HVAC system.  The IT Dept has been aware of the screwed up InFocus machine since January (last day of classes is day after tomorrow).  Much like they are aware of the two printers in Barnard Computer Commons that have been out of service since Feb, they have done nothing.

Those new restrooms are nice, I found them for the first time today - the maps are pretty misleading.

It's interesting how they are only reinstalling the HVAC system because it looks like much more is going on, where I go in that building anyways.

Does anyone have a rendering of what the new Student Union is going to look like?

Edited by moonshield, 01 May 2006 - 06:30 PM.

[unccmyway]

I saw a preliminary rendering about a year ago.  I'm pretty sure a lot has changed since then.  There is a petition to get it LEED certified.  LINK:   http://www.nineronli...8/4059fc9a80ced

Also, here are some of the things it will have in it (from nineronline.com)

( At a President's Council meeting last year, Hoppa described plans for the upcoming Union to a number of student leaders. The multi-floor Union will be 200,000 square feet and will be home to a number of student organization offices and meeting rooms as well as some restaurants. It will be located across from the College of Education building, with the six-level parking deck beside it.

A 60-foot rotunda will be located in the middle of the building, allowing those on the upper floors to look down at the lower one. The entry level floor will have a Wendy's and a Sbarro. A bookstore will be located on the first floor, along with a coffee and bagel shop, a game room and a convenience store. The second floor will include a number of the meeting rooms and offices, as well as eateries and an outside balcony. On the third floor will be the larger meeting rooms.  )

[AuLukey]

unccmyway, on May 1 2006, 11:19 PM, said:

A 60-foot rotunda will be located in the middle of the building, allowing those on the upper floors to look down at the lower one. The entry level floor will have a Wendy's and a Sbarro. A bookstore will be located on the first floor, along with a coffee and bagel shop, a game room and a convenience store. The second floor will include a number of the meeting rooms and offices, as well as eateries and an outside balcony. On the third floor will be the larger meeting rooms.  )

mmmm Wendy's... they need to build that NOW!!!  I wonder if the coffee shop will be another Ritazza's.  Hope so.  I think Ritazza's should start expanding into the city of Charlotte as a whole.  They beat out Starbucks hands down.  If any of you haven't made it onto campus lately, you should stop by there just for them (and maybe to look at campus too.)  There is one in the Fretwell Building which is next to the main Jon Kirk entrance and one in the library (aka the giant temporarily pink building in the center of campus.)