Paul Milstein Hall

[Cornell95]

Dutch Elm disease indeed was the downfall of a lot of the trees that were so prominent in historic images of the campus

The American Elm in particular is susceptible, I assume there is still that big Scotch Elm in the park between Day hall and the Business school. The branch structure of the american elm was a major reason why they were frequently planted along walks and roads... they have a vase shape that creates a cathedral type vault when planted in pairs

I know there have been some other species used to try to get the same effect, most notably the  Zelkova serrata
These were planted from Goldwin Smith to Rand Hall along the walk... but there was an ice storm in the mid-90s that damaged many of them
(compared to the elms they rarely reached the same height and are known to split due to wind/snow/ice more commonly)

Generally campuses are less of a monoculture in terms of greenspace these days, the challenging part is that it can take 25 or more years for even a fairly large transplant to reach a 'mature' size. To replace established full grown trees like the aaks on Lib Slope/Arts Quad or the sycamores along the Baker complex is an undertaking viewed in decades, not years

This is one reason that there is so much emphasis on the Asian Long Horn beetle, it has the potential to devastate large areas and isnt particularly species specific like previous diseases and pests.

bringing you more information than you cared to know
Kevin '95 (Landscape Arch)

[Roy 82]

All I know is that Zelkova Serrata sounds like a first round draft pick with a mean wrist shot.

[CowbellGuy]

Right now IMO it's a mishmash of conflicting styles that just looks cluttered

Have you seen Penn State's campus? Every building has the exact same facade. It's all rather Orwellian and boring. I'm happy with the mishmash as long as the buildings are interesting*.

Keeping distinct zoning only works until you need to build that next building and there's no space for it.


*Uris Hall is not interesting

[KeithK]

Consistent architecture at a single institution is Orwellian?  Isn't that a bit much.  Sure, conformity can be boring but it can also lead to a very nice aesthetic. I haven't been to Penn State, but I have seen other campuses with conforming architecture that were quite nice and beautiful (Miami of Ohio for instance).

Which is not to say that having a wide variety of architecture is necessarily bad either.  Usually it's quality of the individual buildings that is the driver (e.g. Uris or Upson).

[css228]

Right now IMO it's a mishmash of conflicting styles that just looks cluttered

Have you seen Penn State's campus? Every building has the exact same facade. It's all rather Orwellian and boring. I'm happy with the mishmash as long as the buildings are interesting*.

Keeping distinct zoning only works until you need to build that next building and there's no space for it.


*Uris Hall is not interesting

I personally like PSU's campus, now as gorgeous as it is, the one that bothers me is UVA. They even have columns surrounding their lacrosse field (supporting nothing by the way)

[CowbellGuy]

The campus itself is very nice, but there's something disturbing about nearly every building looking like

[Rosey]

I'm not saying every building should look the same, but there should be some consistency. Skin-and-steel high school style buildings with flat roofs should not be placed next to...say, stone buildings with hip roofs. Perhaps a worse problem is the notion that architecture should be unique for the sake of being unique: even without consistency, buildings of different styles can coexist nicely if they don't clash.

For example, Day Hall doesn't look like any of the buildings on the arts quad, but it isn't ugly and doesn't seem out of place or, worse, scream "I'm ugly! Notice me!" This is not true of Uris or Milstein or this proposed Lincoln addition or Roberts/Kennedy.

[Josh '99]

Consistent architecture at a single institution is Orwellian?  Isn't that a bit much.

I thought that too.  Every building at Princeton looks the same, but it works nicely there.

[CowbellGuy]

I don't think there's a problem with every building looking similar a la Princeton, but when every building looks almost identical with exactly the same facade to the point where when you're standing in the middle of a group of them you have no idea where on campus you are, I see that as a bit of a problem.

[Trotsky]

The campus itself is very nice, but there's something disturbing about nearly every building looking like

So basically the whole campus looks like MVR.

[Scersk '97]

So basically the whole campus looks like MVR.

With those aircon vent "details" and the shitty apologetic greenery, more like a roadside Homewood Suites.

[css228]

So basically the whole campus looks like MVR.

With those aircon vent "details" and the shitty apologetic greenery, more like a roadside Homewood Suites.

To be fair, East Halls are a bunch square red brick high rises that look different from the South Halls being shown there, but detract the campus IMO.

[Rosey]

So basically the whole campus looks like MVR.

With those aircon vent "details" and the shitty apologetic greenery, more like a roadside Homewood Suites.

To be fair, East Halls are a bunch square red brick high rises that look different from the South Halls being shown there, but detract the campus IMO.

Did you use Google to translate this into some other language and then back again? ::demented::

[Scersk '97]

Homewood Suites or Penn State building, you make the call.

[Robb]

Homewood Suites or Penn State building, you make the call.

Given the Tennessee flag flying out front, I'm going with "Homewood Suites."