UNC-Charlotte Construction

[unccmyway 11]

I went around campus today to get some pictures of all the new buildings around campus. It was kind of gray outside and cold. I will get some better, brighter pictures when the weather gets better. Also, these were taken with my cell phone so they obviously aren't the greatest quality. I will use my digital camera next time.

The new Brocker Health Center

These are pictures of the new Engineering building located on the Tryon St. side of campus.

I like the spiderweb design on this window of the engineering building

The new facade on the Library tower is coming along

The new nursing/health college building

The new Woodward Hall (Science and technology building)

The applied optics research building on Tryon St.

Edited March 26, 2006 by unccmyway

[browngeo 1]

Good pics. I heard UNC-Charlotte is going to have more students than UNC-Chapel Hill within the next 10 years. It appears that the state is going to take notice.

[c_harmons 1]

Wow.

Those are all classy.

Now the only thing missing is the football stadium.

[unccmyway 11]

yeah...a football stadium would be nice. I didn't get pics of the new parking deck that is going up next to the site where the future student union will go. I will get that next time.

[Miesian Corners 937]

Nothing says high tech and engineering like neoclassicism. I realize I'm in the minority, but I really hate the new research buildings on Tryon. An engineering building really should look, oh, I don't know...engineered maybe.

[monsoon 0]

Thanks for the photos. I graduated from the place in 1984 and the changes since then are mind boggling. I would not be surprised if UNCC becomes the largest school in the UNC system.

[DigitalSky 5]

Thanks for the photos. I graduated from the place in 1984 and the changes since then are mind boggling. I would not be surprised if UNCC becomes the largest school in the UNC system.

Even larger than NC State?

[monsoon 0]

Even larger than NC State?

Yes

[rockhilljames 102]

UNCC already has more students than UNC-Chapel Hill.

[unccmyway 11]

This is my 4th (and last) year here and the campus has had such a dramatic change just in that short amount of time. There's only one thing that bothers me about all the new growth. It all looks the same. Maybe uniformity is what they were going for, but it's a little too homogenous for my taste.

I know that dramatically increasing the enrollment was one of the points in the new Chancellor's installation speech. I just hope they don't lower admittance standards to achieve this goal.

[peaceloveunderstanding 0]

Great pics. I didn't even know that the new healthcare center was under construction, as I don't usually make my way up to the north side.

There is no end in sight to the construction: New student union, more research campus buildings, more residence halls on the northern part of campus, and probably some more parking decks.

Supposedly they are going to start working on a new grand entrance soon. Good thing too, as the entrance on 49 is somewhat lacking.

[unccmyway 11]

oh god....don't get me started on the POS sign on hwy 49. The entrance on Tryon is closed this week because they are working on the new entrance. They have been paving the new roundabout up there for the past few days and they will probably have it at or near completion by graduation (may 13 :) :) )

[Skyline49er 4]

yeah...a football stadium would be nice. I didn't get pics of the new parking deck that is going up next to the site where the future student union will go. I will get that next time.

I can't wait for the future student union center to open up....hopefully it will be done in the next couple of years. A football stadium would be simply awesome, but the question i have is, where do you put it? Would you put it on or off of campus? I agree with you moonshield that the current entrance on 49 is very plain and uninviting. I do hope they do something on a grander scale and make a better entrance.

One last thing, what is up with that church addition across the street from the main entrance, it is just sitting there half finished? It looks terrible.

[Miesian Corners 937]

Regardless of my opin on architecture at UNCC, I should have thanked you for posting, myway. I know how time consuming it can be to attach photos to a post. Thanks for taking the time.

[unccmyway 11]

They started that church at the beginning of last summer and it has been at that exact same point in construction since august. I hate the way it looks and hopefully they can find the money to complete it soon.

Also...no problem, Miesian. I wish the pictures were higher quality. It hurts my eyes to look at them. I am gonna go around and take a ton of pics with my 7 Megapixel camera before I'm outta here. They'll be much easier on the eyes. There's also a huge statue of an eagle or some kinda bird in the new courtyard at Woodward Hall. I'll have to take a pic of it too.

I'm sure you've noticed, but my finger is in the way on the last two pictures. The camera is in a whacky place on my phone.

Edited March 27, 2006 by unccmyway

[CarolinaDaydreamin 473]

Absolutely amazing! I am thoroughly impressed! Besides the Downtown campus, the University should work on improving the name recognition within the state and within the southern region. I believe a name change is neccisary. I think these buildings and an improved campus will naturally lead to much more recognition. I am proud to say that we have UNCC in our city, and state. Before too long it will be mentioned in the same sentence as UNC, Wake, Davidson and Duke. It may already be mentionable with state!

[redjeep77 1]

Actually ECU is on track to becoming the largest school in NC (currently 2nd). It's got almost 30,000 students (undergrad and grad), and one of their primary goals is to be the largest school in the state. UNCC's new building really do wonders to the views of campus. Glad that people do realize that all of those 60's/70's buildings were pretty unsightly.

Edited March 27, 2006 by redjeep77

[dubone 1127]

I'm not so sure being largest has any intrinsic benefits, especially if they are not maintaining competetiveness in admissions. If there are so many slots available, and the University can admit the top 80% of applicants, for example. Lack of entrance selectivity can damage the university more than it helps to be the largest.

As for the designs, I definitely see the points for well executed modern. But to me, as I have written before, buildings with traditional design elements and detailing are much better than ugly modern buildings. As for the notion of high tech, it is a university, where you are learning about the past. Universities are for teaching the knowledge of civilization in the past, to create a level of thinking evolved from the work of the past. If there was ever a place for bringing in elements of the past, it is a university. In my view, it is precisely the reason that the non-traditional buildings on campuses from the 60s and 70s are almost universally considered ugly by laymen.

Granted, they probably should include better proportions, etc., but those type of buildings will make the campus look much better to vastly more people than it looked before.

[Durhamite 83]

Wow, I love the new engineering bldg (me EE....and you can't spell GEEK w/o double E as they say). I use to teach at UNCC (physics) in the mid-90's and haven't seen the place since 1995. I hope they continue this pattern/style as it will only enhance the campus' appearance. I'm going to take a trip down there in a week or so just to check out the city and campus.

Off subject: Are they ever going to get a medical school and/or football program? They were discussing these issues back then.....

[monsoon 0]

Off subject: Are they ever going to get a medical school and/or football program? They were discussing these issues back then.....

One of the appeals of UNCC is that it doesn't have major sports teams. There are a lot of people who hate to see valuable school resources wasted on that stuff.

[rooster8 15]

I think those buildings look great, but they all look similar. I understand why they want similar looking buildings to a point, but after a while it just makes the campus feel very bland.

The same thing is happening up at ASU. All the buildings there will have the same color brick and the same green roofs. The design chief told me he wanted a visitor to campus to be able to recognize a building as part of the campus. Now the only problem is that all the buildings look alike so it's hard to find the right building!

[DanRNC 47]

UNCC already has more students than UNC-Chapel Hill.

UNC has an enrollment of 27,000 and NCSU has an enrollment of close to 30,000. UNCC enrollment is around 20,000.

[DigitalSky 5]

Yeah that's what I thought too. I didn't think UNC had surpassed UNCC.

[Neo 199]

oh god....don't get me started on the POS sign on hwy 49. The entrance on Tryon is closed this week because they are working on the new entrance. They have been paving the new roundabout up there for the past few days and they will probably have it at or near completion by graduation (may 13 )

I was wondering why that entrance was being closed. I saw the sign last week for it. I pass by there everyday to and from work and have been curious when work would begin on the new entrance. I'd love to see UNCC do something about the overgrown woods next to Tryon. It really looks bad on the campus IMO. Some landscaping would be nice. Does the campus even own the land between the hospital and the creek?

[peaceloveunderstanding 0]

Yeah that's what I thought too. I didn't think UNC had surpassed UNCC.

UNC Charlotte and UNC-CH have about the same number of undergrads, but Chapel Hill has many more grad students.