The ED Building…and KAM.

We recently got to visit the Education Building. It was nice…I had actually never been in there before. To be honest, I had always sort of judged it as an ugly building constructed in the 60s or 70s that I would probably never have to go inside. Well, I was wrong about never having to go into it. BUT it also isn't such a bad building after all. Aside from part of the exterior not being beautiful in my eyes, it has quite a bit to offer campus in terms of its addition to the built environment.
I really liked that it has two small lobby areas on each side of the building. It made it welcoming for those who wanted to learn and served as a gathering area. However, the north entrance did not exactly line up with the gap between Wohlers Hall and the Architecture Building. This may have been unintentional, but it was fairly noticeable once someone arrives inside the building. Similarly, the south entrance is not identical to the north entrance. There is only one door, but as Professor Hinders explained, it was seen as a less significant entrance.
Once we hit the basement, things started to get a little more interesting. The basement is actually significantly larger than the first floor. It fans out underneath the grassy area and enclosed terrace area to the west. To me, it represented how knowledge has deep roots that we may not see. Anyway, my favorite part of the building was the outer terrace. Just outside the west entrance is an uneven grassy knoll area, with trees and plants. It seemed like a good area to study, and although was poised next to a less than beautiful building structure, gave a nice touch to the feeling of community. The top floor was actually very cool as well. We got to see how the mechanical systems were aided a bit with vents in the doors and on the windows near the ceilings. Until there was central air conditioning, this helped to ventilate the building. The balconies off the offices were also very cool….although I am sure it does not meet building standards.
We also got the chance to walk over to the Krannert Art Museum, which is much nicer than I had realized. Although we were not able to go in the east entrance, we saw the Lorado Taft sculptures in the entryway. It was a nice tribute to an artist with a lot of influence here in Champaign. Once we went in the correct way, we locked up our bags and got to explore freely. I am pretty conservative, so most of the art was kind of….modern for my taste. There were some very interesting plans for levies and ways to prevent flooding near rivers. Other exhibits made use of everyday materials, three dimensional concepts, and there was even a (mildly) interact exhibit where you pull a handle connected to a pulley system. What this trip made me realize was that Champaign-Urbana is actually quite a diverse campus, not only in terms of people but in terms of atmosphere and surroundings. Between the FLB and Foellinger, Lincoln and Krannert, there is a lot this place has to offer. And that's a pretty cool thing.