Six Places (Waaaay Late)

The Arc.

The Arc is power and strength. Glory presents itself in the banners on the walls and the sweat on the floor. Brutality is evident in the hard edges and slick surfaces. To me the Arc is where I go rock climbing, a place representative of the human struggle to prove themselves superior to their surroundings. However, the Arc is just another product of human ingenuity. This strange dichotomy the Arc inhabits creates a sense of mental unease that permeates the hallways and corridors.

Shoe Tree

The Shoe Tree is amazing. It is a place laden with significance, a piece of found art. An old gnarled tree in between Dorchester and PG, the Shoe Tree is where people go after either losing their virginity or losing their on campus virginity. After they do the deed, they throw a pair of shoes on the tree. The Shoe Tree is completely covered in the sacrificial offerings of the college’s population. Personally, I find the beauty is in the sheer weight and repetition of the ornamental adornments.

Campus Center

The Campus Center creates a feeling of warmth in some sections and grandeur in others. The space in the Campus Center is mainly devoted to communal gathering areas. However, the difference between the Great Room and the Daily Grind is rather extreme. The Great Room is full of light, with ceilings towering over the tables. The Daily grind, on the other hand, is dimly lit with low ceilings. The difference between these two gathering spaces is representative of the needs of the student population.

Coffee House

The Coffee House in Historic is full of ghosts. If meaning is construed through use, ritual, and design, the only thing the Coffee House has left is design. Isolated and removed from the rest of the campus, the Coffee House is a skeleton of meaning. The ritual use of the Coffee House is retrospective. Tourists come in, look for a while, maybe even think for a bit, and then leave.

Justin Bates' Grave

The Bates Memorial is clearly a place designed with meaning in mind. Memorials are perhaps the clearest indicator of how meaning is construed through design. After viewing a memorial an emotional response is evoked. A memorial has no use but to evoke meaning.

Saint Mary's Hall

To go into a concert hall and have it be completely empty is eerie to say the least. I will readily admit that I never thought about what happens in St. Mary’s hall when it’s empty. In fact all over the world there are concert halls that are empty, full of memories, but no people. A concert hall is meaningless without an audience or a performance going on. St Mary’s Hall is just a shell of significance.