UT to invest millions in campus beautification

#52
#52
they need to power wash some of the bridges and buildings. it looks like black sludge dripping down from the top.
 
#53
#53
This was needed a long time of go, but if they are getting rid of parking on the street (which I agree they need to do btw), where are the students going to park?
 
#54
#54
UT bulldozed beautiful historic structures to build those ugly orange brick buildings all over campus.Humanitarian, circle park, etc. There aint enough dynamite to blow up all those buildings.
The newer buildings are better and preserve the traditional look. Start by razing presidential courtyard and the Spam can. It's pretty sad when your parking garages have more architectural appeal than your college of architecture building.

Now they are building a new building right next door to the stadium. When they need to tear down nasty Estabrook. Its also great to have a water treatment plant and concrete plant blocking ur river view.
 
#55
#55
vflgolfer said:
The problem is the limited amount of land the University has to work with. Therefore, everything on UTK Campus is congested. I still think the The Hill and Hodges Library are aesthetically pleasing.......& all the beautiful coeds.
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They had the opportunity to buy the old Fulton Bellows land which could have resulted in the largest campus expansion in 40 years. Instead it looks like they are getting a walmart. This would have tied in another link to the ag campus and the new sororiety park. They already own the old Metron property across the street.
 
#56
#56
I think the campus was much nicer when I enrolled in the 60s as to opposed to now but that could be just my impressions. Also the ugliest campus I have ever seen is UCF in Orlando. All new but looks like a huge strip mall no personality at all. I went to UC Berkeley for a while it was a beautiful campus.
 
#57
#57
Flipdaddy said:
Ugly campus reputation????? Seriously? Tennessee has a great looking campus. The river, the hill, the historic stadium etc...I love it! Only thing I don't like is that huge parking deck on the south end of the stadium. Also....when are they gonna start working in the south end stadium concourse? Or since Hamilton is gone have they scrapped it?
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You realize the campus is larger than the area next to the stadium right? Why don't you go over to the ag campus or presidential court and tell me how that looks?
 
#58
#58
dlw4n said:
Go to Duke, UVA, Ole Miss, Alabama, UGA, or almost any other college campus that is beautiful. We aren't talking about the stadium and the river vistas...those are unmatched. The campus as a whole is easily in the bottom third of major universities I've set foot on. I should also say that I'm an alum and felt this way the entire time I was there as well.

That said, they had made major improvements in the 2000's over the 90's but there is a long long way to go still. Kudos to the city and university.
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Problem is Knoxville is a much bigger city than the schools u named. If u look at state schools in similar sized cities then UT is pretty comparable. Go look at uk or South Carolina.

That being said, you make a great point about 1990s vs 2000s. Also, I'm very glad they have a plan to improve. If this plan does what it sounds like its going to then we will compare very favorably to similar schools in similar urban areas. Another factor is as downtown Knoxville improves, UT will as well.

I don't think we will ever be ole miss aesthetically.

I still love the place and think it is a wonderful place to go to school.
 
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#61
#61
FearlessFreep said:
One of UT's biggest issues is consistency throughout the campus. It looks like a hodgepodge of different styles, materials, etc. Most of the 'beautiful' campuses are consistent in design throughout the entire space. UT's dominant style seems to be the red-brick block style building. Not very attractive, but pick one thing and stick with it - at least it will all look like it belongs.
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Dead on! That's what I was thinking while reading this thread. So random, no consistence or style at all. It's like each bldg got built with the surroundings around it not being considered.

I wonder if there is just constant turn over in the powers at be that r in charge of all this. New guy brings his own ideas...then one bldg gets built..that takes yrs knowing how long things take to get done and financed....then a new guy comes in with his own ideas...another bldg...takes yrs...repeat over and over and over. And now we r where we r. :ermm:

Iirc the "beautiful" concrete area between the library and McClung was closed down...hmmmm..summer of '97 and don't think it was finished and officially opened until..hmmmm...fall '03 or '04. You want to talk about an ugly campus???? Those yrs were straight up fugly!!!
 
#62
#62
dlw4n said:
Go to Duke, UVA, Ole Miss, Alabama, UGA, or almost any other college campus that is beautiful. We aren't talking about the stadium and the river vistas...those are unmatched. The campus as a whole is easily in the bottom third of major universities I've set foot on. I should also say that I'm an alum and felt this way the entire time I was there as well.

That said, they had made major improvements in the 2000's over the 90's but there is a long long way to go still. Kudos to the city and university.
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You haven't stepped foot on many major campuses.
 
#63
#63
Flipdaddy said:
Well...I'm not saying it's the best. I've been to the crime infested Tuscaloosa and and I don't see it being beautiful. I've been to auburn and it's ok as well. I just disagreed with the "ugly campus reputation". It's in downtown Knoxville it's not gonna look like an institution that sits on a big pretty piece of land off in the distance.
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I agree with you my friend. I know our campus isn 't going to win any beauty pageants but the way some people talk is is like a mini third world country. I have always liked our campus for what it is; a major URBAN university campus. I have been to virtually every callege campus in the south and Penn St. and Ohio St. Colorado. People need to quit imagining every college campus looking like an old Southern plantation from the 1850's and see the beauty in ours for what it is.

That said, I am fully in favor of adding more green and doing what needs to be done to enhance the image of UT.
 
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#64
#64
I am going to play a little devil's advocate. So I like the fact that they have invested so much into campus (new buildings, beautification, even an electric car charging station).

Here's the opposing argument. Does something like beautification have a long term return in revenue? Being 200 million in debt, is something like beautification worth investing in if you do not see a long term boost in revenue?
 
#65
#65
iVol4Life said:
Glad they're starting it before I get to UT.
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Sorry to bust your bubble but unless you are 5 yrs away from going to UT you won't enjoy any of this. You'll have to go through the hassles of heading to class one day and all of sudden you r detouring around a new barrier that you don't know they were going to put up, and it adds more time to ur walk to class.

Fun times and welcome to UT!!:hi:
 
#67
#67
jlindsa4 said:
I am going to play a little devil's advocate. So I like the fact that they have invested so much into campus (new buildings, beautification, even an electric car charging station).

Here's the opposing argument. Does something like beautification have a long term return in revenue? Being 200 million in debt, is something like beautification worth investing in if you do not see a long term boost in revenue?
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Isn't the 200 mil debt over at the AD?? 2 different things.
 
#68
#68
Oskie Volum said:
Isn't the 200 mil debt over at the AD?? 2 different things.
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So it is, but I would believe that a large majority of campus revenue is in the athletic department. That said, I don't see campus revenue being too high, especially after having all these million dollar buildings and renovations going up however necessary they may be.
 
#69
#69
gasguy98 said:
I agree with you my friend. I know our campus isn 't going to win any beauty pageants but the way some people talk is is like a mini third world country. I have always liked our campus for what it is; a major URBAN university campus. I have been to virtually every callege campus in the south and Penn St. and Ohio St. Colorado. People need to quit imagining every college campus looking like an old Southern plantation from the 1850's and see the beauty in ours for what it is.

That said, I am fully in favor of adding more green and doing what needs to be done to enhance the image of UT.
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I don't think people have issues with it being "old southern" vs "modern". Be honest...other than up on The Hill...is there any consistence in style of any kind on campus?? That's the problem

City's zone for this why can't UT have used the same mindset. Teach one thing and do the opposite?? Ha!:p
 
#70
#70
jlindsa4 said:
So it is, but I would believe that a large majority of campus revenue is in the athletic department. That said, I don't see campus revenue being too high, especially after having all these million dollar buildings and renovations going up however necessary they may be.
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I have feeling this is a which is more important...academics or football...convo. Alums/students vs non, etc.

2 seperate things man. That's all that matters. Nothing else. AD is in debt not UT. The AD is just a part of the university. "ugly campus" nickname is just as bad as having a bad football team. UT is about academics and getting students on campus. Football is an avenue for that. UT is the mothership and football is its biggest gun. That's the hierarchy like it or not it won't change.
 
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#71
#71
Oskie Volum said:
I don't think people have issues with it being "old southern" vs "modern". Be honest...other than up on The Hill...is there any consistence in style of any kind on campus?? That's the problem

City's zone for this why can't UT have used the same mindset. Teach one thing and do the opposite?? Ha!:p
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Beauty/beholder. I don't have a problem with diverse architecture on campus. Ever been to Va. Tech? The monotonous buildings get old real fast.
 
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#72
#72
Oskie Volum said:
I don't think people have issues with it being "old southern" vs "modern". Be honest...other than up on The Hill...is there any consistence in style of any kind on campus?? That's the problem

City's zone for this why can't UT have used the same mindset. Teach one thing and do the opposite?? Ha!:p
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Yeah, I would think the only consistency that the campus admins really care about is the hill. All other facilities should have a modern look to appeal to the student body. That said, I think it is good for the campus to look different in most places to have a vibe to it that makes you feel like they have the latest and most up to date tech, etc etc.
 
#74
#74
gasguy98 said:
Beauty/beholder. I don't have a problem with diverse architecture on campus. Ever been to Va. Tech? The monotonous buildings get old real fast.
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Doesn't have to be all exactly the same, but geeez have some kind of consistency. A good mix of what has been done with a twist to accommodate for the current times.

City planners don't allow for this type of inconsistency because it eventually gets out of hand and it becomes really ugly. Takes to long to get things done at UT to not have something set.

Agree to disagree I guess.

jlindsa4 said:
Yeah, I would think the only consistency that the campus admins really care about is the hill. All other facilities should have a modern look to appeal to the student body. That said, I think it is good for the campus to look different in most places to have a vibe to it that makes you feel like they have the latest and most up to date tech, etc etc.
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Sooo the Spam Can has a modern look that appeals to kids today?? It's like our fb uniforms...we stick to orange and white, same helmet, as the base...now little things can be adjusted with time to keep up, but the foundation of the uni never gets old or outdated.

What's "hot" today isn't going to be tomorrow. When thinking towards the future you need to know what you want to be your foundation and go from there. It's like any other product that fails when its constantly being changed from top to bottom.
 
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#75
#75
gasguy98 said:
Beauty/beholder. I don't have a problem with diverse architecture on campus. Ever been to Va. Tech? The monotonous buildings get old real fast.
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If you like diversity in architecture, check out the Ball State University campus (Muncie, IN), should the opportunity ever avail itself. At some point, they really turned their architecture faculty loose on conceptualizing new buildings. The building which houses the Music Dept. is shaped like a grand piano, and the Architecture Dept. building itself is shaped like an architect's slant-board.
 
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