UT to invest millions in campus beautification

#102
#102
Nice of the KNS NOT to ask where the money is coming from. If it is coming from the state or fed OK, but if its coming from UT than tap the brakes until a lot more of the 200 million is paid down. Right now most of the steady income is from sports TV revenue, if butt Cheek is robbing UTAD again than he seriously needs to go!!
 
#103
#103
This 153-page report, "Campus Landscape Vision and Site Standards," was published last December. It goes into great detail about the existing beautification plans and provides additional recommendations.

Since 1826 when the trustees selected a new home for the University on a promontory overlooking the Tennessee River, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville has grown in ways that have enhanced the character and quality of the campus, but it has also developed in ways that have diluted that character and have created a campus that does not consistently reflect the quality of the institution. As part of the recent initiative by UTK to become a Top 25 Public Research University, leadership at Tennessee’s flagship campus have recognized that the quality of the campus plays a key role in achieving this goal.

With 35% of the ranking of the top schools by U.S. News & World Report based on student retention and the caliber of the student body, it is critical that the University takes steps to shape a campus that supports its student community, that creates a cohesive and attractive setting for the University, and that attracts prospective students. The role that campus beauty plays in attracting students and in contributing to their happiness as a student is well documented. In short, academic excellence needs to be first manifested by excellence in the campus landscape in order to help advance the University to the ranks of the country’s Top 25 Public Research Universities.

Today the UTK campus falls short of reflecting excellence in the landscape. The recent publication by the Princeton Review of its college and university rankings placed UTK as #6 on its list of Least Attractive Campuses. Based on scores that the current study body gives to the campus in response to the question, “How beautiful is your campus?” the Princeton Review’s rankings are highly influential in prospective students’ selection of their future schools and provides the University with a strong incentive to enhance the beauty of the campus, particularly along the route that prospective students are taken on campus tours.

In reviewing those colleges deemed by their students to be beautiful, commonalities emerge. Well-kept lawns and mature trees, the elements of the quintessential American campus, are a common denominator. The campuses are wonderful places for people, maximizing pedestrian connections and spaces over vehicular routes and keeping parked vehicles apart from pedestrian spaces.

But in addition to these elements, the beautiful campuses also have a distinctive character, be it architectural or landscape, that sets the campus apart, that makes it unique and memorable, that gives it a strong sense of place, and gives its community a sense of pride...

PRIORITY PROJECTS

Four priority projects have been undertaken as part of this effort to illustrate the application of the campus landscape vision guidelines to selected campus spaces. These projects were selected as the spaces that would have the most transformative impact on campus for prospective students as well as the UTK community.
1. Perkins-Ferris Quad (see p. 127)
2. Presidential Courtyard (p. 128)
3. Pedestrian Mall Extension - West and Environs - East (pp. 129, 130)
4. Volunteer Boulevard (p. 131)
http://masterplan.utk.edu/docs/landscape-site-standards.pdf
 
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#104
#104
midtnvol2 said:
Nice of the KNS NOT to ask where the money is coming from. If it is coming from the state or fed OK, but if its coming from UT than tap the brakes until a lot more of the 200 million is paid down. Right now most of the steady income is from sports TV revenue, if butt Cheek is robbing UTAD again than he seriously needs to go!!
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The article states, "Most of the work could be done by the end of 2014, and it will be funded largely through student facility fees, Irvin said. He did not have an estimate for the total cost of the projects, citing ongoing number crunching, but said it would be more than the roughly $6 million already collected through the fees. UT will likely apply future fees toward the projects as they're collected."

Per UT's website, "The Facilities Fee is a mandatory fee assessed to all students enrolled in credit and audit courses. The fee will be used to provide students with upgraded classroom facilities, expand information technology into the classroom, and fund campus infrastructure improvements. These revenues will be targeted to assist in funding a backlog of campus and classroom projects that will enhance the University's facilities. Beginning Fall 2012 the fee is $160 per semester for full-time, in-state students and $310 per semester for full-time, out-of-state students. The fee will be pro-rated for part-time students."

UT's fee history for the past 30 years
 
#105
#105
Darth_Shiveman said:
Dude, the area they're going to build the Publix/Wa-Mart is literally the most polluted/toxic area in Knoxville. They were barely able to get rights to out a building there because so many university ecologists/geologists were up in arms about the hazards that would come to people shopping (or god forbid, working all day) in an indoor facility that will trap in so much toxic fumes.

Sure, it will be convenient, but I think I'll just keep getting my groceries from Food City and not worry about buying mutated fruit.
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can you elaborate as to how that is the most polluted area? What is around there that would cause that?
 
#106
#106
bigeasy said:
can you elaborate as to how that is the most polluted area? What is around there that would cause that?
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There used to be an arms manufacturer there (they made artillery shells, I believe) before there strict rules on getting rid of waste. They basically just dumped tons and tons of various noxious chemicals into the creek right next to the lot (which is now pretty much devoid of all life). All the waste became saturated into the ground all around it.

I believe the way whoever is going to build the Wal-mart/Publix got around this issue was by proposing to put a 3 ft concrete slab on top of the lot. All the experts at the university pretty much agree this would do nothing, but the folks with the $$$ are going to get their way anyhow.
 
#107
#107
Brave Volunteer said:
That's exactly right! The first time I laid eyes on UT's campus, my first reaction was that it was very "technical" looking. Yes the stadium and the river is nice. However around campus I always thought it could be much more scenic looking. Ole Miss? Now THERE'S a campus!!
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Much more scenic? UT is an "urban" campus, after all. How scenic can an urban campus be? And Ole Miss? Oxford wouldn't exactly be described as urban.
 
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#108
#108
I just wish people understood the differences among the Athletic Department budget, donations to the school, and school revenue
 
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#109
#109
Darth_Shiveman said:
There used to be an arms manufacturer there (they made artillery shells, I believe) before there strict rules on getting rid of waste. They basically just dumped tons and tons of various noxious chemicals into the creek right next to the lot (which is now pretty much devoid of all life). All the waste became saturated into the ground all around it.

I believe the way whoever is going to build the Wal-mart/Publix got around this issue was by proposing to put a 3 ft concrete slab on top of the lot. All the experts at the university pretty much agree this would do nothing, but the folks with the $$$ are going to get their way anyhow.
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Fulton Bellows has made a lot of products over the years, most based on the founder's invention of seamless metal bellows. But while they made things like grenade fuses and tail-fins for mortar shells during WWII, they were never an arms manufacturer.

The concrete slab is all that's left of the huge building that was razed in '05, and it will remain due to the contaminated soil beneath it. The shopping center will be built on stilts above the slab.

It'll be very interesting to see how University Commons impacts traffic patterns in the area, especially as the Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project unfolds.
 
#110
#110
kamoshika said:
Fulton Bellows has made a lot of products over the years, most based on the founder's invention of seamless metal bellows. But while they made things like grenade fuses and tail-fins for mortar shells during WWII, they were never an arms manufacturer.

The concrete slab is all that's left of the huge building that was razed in '05, and it will remain due to the contaminated soil beneath it. The shopping center will be built on stilts above the slab.

It'll be very interesting to see how University Commons impacts traffic patterns in the area, especially as the Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project unfolds.
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My bad, I wasn't exactly sure what the factory was, but I did know they made arms at one point.

Also it was my understanding that a new slab of concrete would be layed down on too of the existing one.

I'm still not sure that building steps will be all that construction to deal with the issue, though. It looks like those building will be brick too, so they'll probably have poor air circulation. I would not want to work in one of those buildings.
 
#111
#111
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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UT HAD a great looking campus until the renovation of the Undergrad Library started and the powers that be became obsessed with digging up every square inch of grass and putting a building or parking lot on it. Long gone are the days of relaxing in front of the Library or on the backside of the hill in the grass and catching some sun or doing a little studying. It is going to take a hell of a lot more than "beautifying" VB to make our campus look good again.
 
#112
#112
I think the city should give the university what is left of the old worlds fair park. They could put some buildings there and leave the park stuff intact.
 
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#115
#115
Nerwen Aldarion said:
THe first step in making the campus beautiful? Get rid of that UGLY star, scrap metal heap of a "sculpture" in the middle of the walkway
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It looks like someone deliberately wrecked a train and put it on campus for no apperant reason.
 
#116
#116
Build a brick facade around that god awful white building across from Gibbs. It was a white elephant the day it opened and is really ugly now and architecturally is an ugly duckling
 
#118
#118
Ugly campus? WTH? Great, more student fees. Let me guess, yet another 7-12% tuition hike. I'm all for improving when/where you can but get it funded correctly. And don't create this straw man "ugly campus" reputation when it's patently wrong.
 
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#120
#120
So ugly


a_startling_whirlwind_of_opportunity.jpg
 
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#121
#121
Georgia Peach said:
So ugly


a_startling_whirlwind_of_opportunity.jpg
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That's nothing. When I went there they had some sort of thing that looked like the arm had fallen off a crane and been left to rust. They claimed it was art but all I know is if a construction company had left something like that there they would have been charged with illegal dumping.

It just goes to show that if you leave the UT administration in charge of beautification you will end up with the aesthetic equivalent of the Dooley hire.
 
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