# The most aesthetically pleasing university campus **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184 "2005-02-27T21:10:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/81 "2005-03-03T15:03:55Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Worst campuses? (Excluding those cookie-cutter community colleges): > > The second-tier engineering schools have it hands down: it’s a toss up which is uglier: **Texas Tech** , Michigan Tech, UM-Rolla, Colorado School of Mines, or Milwaukee School of Engineering (or as they call it, “Mosie”. How do you get that out of MSOE?). I’m sure more can add to the list, but there’s a start. HEY!! Bah, you probably just haven’t been here in a while. The [new English/Philosophy building](http://www.english.ttu.edu/tour/default.asp) is very impressive. And of course there’s the needlessly over-ornamented parking facility, named by students the [“Garage Mahal”](http://www.nancyhuenergardt.com/TTNEWPARK_GARAGE31.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/82 "2005-03-03T16:27:37Z")
> [@Max Torque](#): > > Bah, you probably just haven’t been here in a while. The [new English/Philosophy building](http://www.english.ttu.edu/tour/default.asp) is very impressive. And of course there’s the needlessly over-ornamented parking facility, named by students the [“Garage Mahal”](http://www.nancyhuenergardt.com/TTNEWPARK_GARAGE31.jpg). Umph…well, I’m not too excited about the shopping mall esthetic, but I’ll give it (Texas Tech) enough points to raise it above the others mentioned. As a UM-Rolla alum, I have to say that it’s pretty well down near the bottom, 'specially after the frat pledges have finished tearing up the Quad after St. Pats, leaving a muddy, cratered mess. And I’m just waiting for Norwood Hall to finish falling into a sinkhole. As for the Physics and EE buildings…ugh. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/83 "2005-03-03T16:46:50Z")
> [@LoganDear](#): > > **Kythereia** , U of Toronto, eh? You stole one of my favorite Italian teachers. ☹ (sigh) Paolo, we miss you. Sorry! ☹ (If it helps, we’re missing a president right now… we could organize a trade?) ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/84 "2005-03-03T16:47:58Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > You can see a picture of Uris Hall at the end of [this series of pictures](http://pine.psych.cornell.edu/personal/misc/walk_to_work/). It doesn’t look too bad in that picture, but it is indeed considered to be one of the uglier buildings on the Cornell campus. I guess that means Cornell does have pretty campus. If you just do a Google image search on [Cornell University](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=cornell+university&btnG=Search), you’ll get some great pictures. Good God! What did they do to Sage Hall? It looks like a modern architecture tumor has grown on the side of it. ::weeping:: ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/85 "2005-03-03T17:11:44Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > The second-tier engineering schools have it hands down: it’s a toss up which is uglier: Texas Tech, Michigan Tech, UM-Rolla, **Colorado School of Mines** , or Milwaukee School of Engineering (or as they call it, “Mosie”. How do you get that out of MSOE?). I’m sure more can add to the list, but there’s a start. > > MIT is a strange mixture of really impressive, fairly blah, and architectural nightmare. But not even the worst on that Cambridge campus can compete with the unholy awfulness that is the Harvard School of Design. > > Stranger What is wrong with Mines? It is an attractive campus, right at the foot of the mountains, Coal Creek runs through it. OK, it smells like beer 24/7 from Coors, but at least that is fresh brewed beer, not stale or regurgitated beer like most other college campuses. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/86 "2005-03-03T17:25:31Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > Good God! What did they do to Sage Hall? It looks like a modern architecture tumor has grown on the side of it. ::weeping:: Sage Hall was “renovated” in 1996-1998, which is Cornell-speak for completely gutting the building and rebuilding the interior. It’s now home to the Johnson School of Management. That new stuff on the side does indeed look ugly and out of place. It still looks the same from the other side, though: [http://people.cornell.edu/pages/jzs3/Downloads/cornellwp3.jpg](http://people.cornell.edu/pages/jzs3/Downloads/cornellwp3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/87 "2005-03-03T17:48:40Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > What is wrong with Mines? It is an attractive campus, right at the foot of the mountains, Coal Creek runs through it. OK, it smells like beer 24/7 from Coors, but at least that is fresh brewed beer, not stale or regurgitated beer like most other college campuses. Maybe I was there on a bad day, and it’s been well over a decade, but the campus looked pretty…not bad, but blah and a little run-down, to me. The view is nice, but the campus…meh. And I could do without the yeast smell (though honestly, I don’t remember that.) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/88 "2005-03-03T19:39:06Z")
Along the lines of Pepperdine, I’m going to give a shout out to my alma mater, and another local university that both are pretty good: University of San Diego (my alma mater): [http://www.sandiego.edu/about/virtualcampustour/](http://www.sandiego.edu/about/virtualcampustour/) and Point Loma Nazarene University, which has primo real estate: [http://www.ptloma.edu/universityinformation/campustour/Tour1.htm](http://www.ptloma.edu/universityinformation/campustour/Tour1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/89 "2005-03-03T19:45:44Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > I haven’t been to UC Santa Cruz, but I do have to put in a word for UC Santa Barbara-- at the beach, with a lovely lagoon, great birdwatching, surfing on campus, trees and flowers, thin athletic and attractive underdressed drunk greek-system kids, handsome marine-science grad students running around in wetsuits, etc. It’s like Baywatch goes to college. Can’t say much for the buildings, though. A general note about the UC’s. Anyone notice they occupy some of the most awesome real estate in the world? (You can define “awesome” as “incredible” or simply as “incredibly expensive”). Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara occupy prime beachfront real estate, Berkeley’s tucked in among the Oakland hills with a view of the bay, San Diego is cuddled up next to the tony town of La Jolla (and come to think about it, doesn’t it have some beachfront space?), Irvine is (I think) right in the middle of the OC tech corridor, UCSF overlooks Golden Gate Park, and UCLA is on a hillside directly underneath Bel Air and just west of Beverly Hills. I’ve never been to UC Riverside, and Davis takes up a bunch of farmland and thus I guess is the exception that proves the rule. [My alma mater](http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/tours/photograph.asp?red_dot=Royce_Hall) is one of these, and while it has its share of 60’s-era brutality, also has quite a few lovely Italianate-style red brick buildings that have served as backdrop to lots of movies, TV shows, and commercials. I particularly recommend the views of[Powell Library](http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/tours/photograph.asp?red_dot=Powell_Library_at_Sunset), [Royce Quad](http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/tours/panorama.asp?red_dot=Royce_Quad) (Quicktime required for this one), [Dickson Plaza,](http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/tours/photograph.asp?red_dot=Dodd_Hall_and_Dickson_Plaza)the[Law School,](http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/tours/photograph.asp?red_dot=School_of_Law) and the new [Business School.](http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/tours/photograph.asp?red_dot=Anderson_Business_School) ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/90 "2005-03-03T22:04:32Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > Sage Hall was “renovated” in 1996-1998, which is Cornell-speak for completely gutting the building and rebuilding the interior. It’s now home to the Johnson School of Management. That new stuff on the side does indeed look ugly and out of place. It still looks the same from the other side, though: > > [http://people.cornell.edu/pages/jzs3/Downloads/cornellwp3.jpg](http://people.cornell.edu/pages/jzs3/Downloads/cornellwp3.jpg) Well, at least the Engineering Quad still has a nice view of it. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/91 "2005-03-03T22:32:47Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > Well, at least the Engineering Quad still has a nice view of it. I guess I won’t tell you what they’ve done to the Engineering Quad. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/92 "2005-03-03T22:52:18Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > I guess I won’t tell you what they’ve done to the Engineering Quad. LA! LA! LA! I’M NOT LISTENING! LA! LA! LA! Though I did hear a rumor that the green space has been taken up by a new building. If so, too bad. The green space was the only attractive feature of Engr. No offense intended (you’re in Engineering, yes?). I spent several years in Carpenter, so I have a distinct fondness for the Engineering Quad, despite its aesthetic shortcomings. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/93 "2005-03-04T16:32:15Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > I’m at Corpus Christi College (Oxford). The virtual tour does not really do it justice, but > [here it is](http://www.ccc.ox.ac.uk/TOUR/index.htm). > > It’s on the oldest continuously-inhabited street in England, or so they say. > > Cheers, > Daphne Wow… never made it down that direction. I stayed at Trinity College for the summer of 2003 for the graduate business school program I was with. I don’t remember seeing an _ugly_ college there. Some had jarring 1960’s era buildings in among 16th and 17th century buildings, but on the whole, the entire place was very beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/94 "2005-03-04T17:10:13Z")
I can’t find any good pictures, but [Miami University](http://www.muohio.edu) in Ohio has a gorgeous campus. The female students there are rather aesthetically pleasing as well… ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/95 "2005-03-04T19:33:10Z")
I think my university, Trinity College Dublin, has a nice campus. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/96 "2005-03-04T19:39:34Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > LA! LA! LA! I’M NOT LISTENING! LA! LA! LA! > > Though I did hear a rumor that the green space has been taken up by a new building. If so, too bad. The green space was the only attractive feature of Engr. > > No offense intended (you’re in Engineering, yes?). > I spent several years in Carpenter, so I have a distinct fondness for the Engineering Quad, despite its aesthetic shortcomings. 😃 Yes, there’s a new building on the Engineering Quad, [Duffield Hall](http://www.duffield.cornell.edu/duf_page.cfm?title=About). As you can see from the picture, it didn’t take up all of the green space on the quad, only half of it. I guess it’s a nice-looking building and, to be fair, it hides Philips and Upson Halls, which I consider to be Engineering’s uglier buildings. I actually work in the Ag Quad. There’s lots more green space and most of the buildings are nicer to look at. Unfortunately, I work in Cornell’s [ugliest building](http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/news_events/ParadeMay12/bradfield2.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/97 "2005-03-05T02:46:28Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > I like Madison, WI, and the UW Student Union sundeck is a great place to have a beer in the summer, but most beautiful campus? It’s rates a solid “Meh” in my book. In my time there, I had heard it to referred to as one of the more beautiful campuses in the US. There was some unfortunate relics from the 50s-70s, but the grounds department does a great time. There are a lot of [in the spring]([http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=1265flowering](http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=1265flowering) trees[/url) and the [can be gorgeous.]([http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=2699leaves](http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=2699leaves) in the fall[/url) Here are some of my favorite pictures: [here](http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=268), [here](http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=247), [here](http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=259), [here](http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=2254), and [one of the best things about summer in Madison](http://photos.news.wisc.edu/view.php?id=3084) ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/98 "2005-03-05T02:48:22Z")
Err, I previewed, but not enough. There _are_ some unfortunate relics, and there are a lot of _flowering trees_ in the spring and _in the fall, the leaves_ can be gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/99 "2005-03-05T03:56:58Z")
For unique architecture and external beauty, I’d rate the [University of Lethbridge](http://twwphotos.com/images/CRW_2727.jpg) pretty highly. Unfortunately, the interior sucks. Because it’s largely underground, there are few windows and the building is very long and narrow. The lower levels have no windows and it feels like studying in a dungeon or inside a ship or something. The other problem is that it’s sliding downhill. But man, it looks cool from the outside. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184/100 "2005-03-05T05:15:32Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > I actually work in the Ag Quad. There’s lots more green space and most of the buildings are nicer to look at. Unfortunately, I work in Cornell’s [ugliest building](http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/news_events/ParadeMay12/bradfield2.jpg). Pardon me for eavesdropping, but it seems to me you’ve got it better than you think. Think of it this way: you’ve got the best view on campus. By virtue of working in the ugliest building on campus, you don’t actually have to be subjected to it’s offensiveness while you’re at work. This must be preferable to working in the loveliest building on campus with a fabulous view of the ugliest building on campus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-aesthetically-pleasing-university-campus/292184.md?page=6)