New Designs - Round 3.1
In preparation for the campus’ Design Review Board on April 22nd, architects released two refined models. The main changes center on the northwest corner, though smaller refinements are also present throughout.
Here are the links to the respective pages:
http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/round-31-option-1/
http://unionbuildingproject.wordpress.com/round-31-option-2/
May 6, 2008 at 6:04 am
Here are the comments I had hoped to present to the design committee tonight on behalf of the line dancing student organization.
I support the assertion that the dance and martial arts organizations want, need, and deserve numerous small rooms that are uncarpeted.
I’m wondering if anyone has pointed out that dancing is good clean fun that promotes good health both by providing exercise and an alternative to drinking.
Put another way, have the people on campus who are trying to promote alternatives to drinking had an opportunity to weigh in on this issue?
I’m thinking of people like Susan Crowley, the director of Prevention services for the PACE program of the University Health Service.
Also Susan Dibbel of the Wisconsin Union, which “the Chancellor has officially assigned the task of facilitating alternatives [to drinking] into the responsibilities of the operation of the Wisconsin Union”, (quoting from the PACE web site).
I also believe this raises cultural diversity issues.
Although America likes to pretend it has no culture, both swing and country line dancing technically qualify as American folk dances - to say nothing of the many other cultures represented in the excellent presentation by Sarah, (African American, Hmong, Latino).
Contra, Cajun, clogging, and the international folk dancers also come to mind.
Finally, I’m wondering if anyone has pointed out that the gyms also lack general purpose space?
For example, when I was a student I once went to the gym to try to do t’ai chi but I could find no space large enough - even though you only need about 7 by 8 feet, (solo practice).
In general, the mindset that every space must have one and only one purpose just isn’t very multi-disciplinary.
As the current union shows, bad design decisions have an inordinate ability to haunt the people who made them for decades.
Sincerely,
Greg Parker, Geology ‘85, Water Resources Management ‘91, lifetime union member