In the HHS 105 class of Thursday, September 10 we visited certain sites on campus. In this post I will discuss the values imbedded in three of these sites in my opinion. Those three spaces are the Quad, Peabody Park and the MHRA Building.
Quad
The UNCG Quad is the space between eight different buildings (dorms). It has four edges. The Quad is shaped as a rectangle, so actually the name is wrong. It is not a quad. There are a lot of trees in the quad, most of them near the edges.
When you look at the quad you see that the space is captured by the eight surrounding dorms. It is a very special place on campus. Above all it is a recreation place for people who live in one of the dorms, but also for 'outsiders'. Most of the activities include sunbathing (is this spelled correctly?) and playing frisbee.
In my opinion the Quad's value is that it created/creates a sort of little community. It is a space where people are together and are enjoying the good things of life. I consider the Quad as a neighbourhood on campus. It is a space that is separated from the rest of campus.
Source picture:
http://preservationgreensboro.typepad.com/weblog/2009/04/the-uncg-quad-could-become-history.html
Peabody Park
Peabody Park is a park on the edge of campus. It exists since the 1890's, so it has a great historical value for the University. It consists of 16 acres of land.
There is embedded one of the greatest stories of UNCG in this Peabody Park. There used to be hold cows in this park since its existence. The milk that was produces by these cows was used by the University to fill up the milk supply. The students were drinking this milk in the Dining Halls. So that was the main value of this park.
Nowadays the values of the park are recreation and sports. The biggest part of Peabody Park is used now as a golf course. It it host to the Men's and Women's Golf teams of UNCG. In the 1950's and the 1960's the golf course was internationally famous. UNCG hosted big international championships here. There are also numerous other sport facilities on the edge of Peabody Park (in the direction of the dorms), such as the tennis courts, the soccer stadium and the new baseball stadium.
There is a paved road around Peabody Park. It wasn't paved yet in the previous century. People walk here to enjoy the wood, the silence and the green environment. Of course this is also one of the values of Peabody Park.
Picture: While standing on the golf course looking out over the other sports facilities and a couple of buildings.
MHRA Building
The MHRA (Moore Humanities & Research Administration) Building is located on Spring Garden Street. It was built in the last three years. It will be no suprise that it looks like one of the most modern buildings on campus.
The MHRA Building is, as the name says, both a space where students have there class and a office/administration space. That is strange. It is probably the only building on campus where this is the case. How does these two departments go along with each other? Are they assisting each other or is it annoying for both of them to work together in this building? In other words, which values does the building have for people who work and learn in it (employees of the University and students)? These are questions I really want them to be answered. When I have a class again in this building, I will be alert to discover signs of cooperation or not.
Another obvious thing in this building that attracted my attention were the patterns on the first floor when I entered the building. You can see them in the picture below. These patterns are paths that show you where to go. They go from the main entrance on Spring Garden Street to different objects on the first floor. One leads to the offices on the right and the door to leave the building (or to come in), another one to the elevator in the middle and the third leads to the stairs on the left.
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