Bad Designs on Campus - Submission
Michigan Dorms: Not Designed by Michigan Architects
Problem description: I plan to attend the architecture program here at Michigan. The graduate and undergraduate programs are well known for their prestige, but unfortunately, I would say many of our buildings on our campus don’t do much to show it. Our newer buildings such as the Law Library and Computer Science and Engineering building have won awards for its architectural excellence, however our splendid university did move to its current location in Ann Arbor in 1837. This of course means we have a number of buildings which were erected in this time, and consequently aren’t designed to our standards today. I’m talking particularly about a few of our on campus dormitories.
Mary Markley Hall, South Quadrangle, and West Quadrangle all have significant design flaws, making it difficult for residents and students to get around. Markley’s front entrance starts between the third and fourth floor on the south side of the building. However, the only entrance to the dining hall is on the third floor on the north side of the building, and to get there, one must cross to the north side on the fourth floor, walk a bit down the hall, and go down a flight of stairs. Finding the restroom is even worse (if you don’t have a room key for Markley). Seeing that the single person restroom near the entrance was being used, a friend of mine actually spent ten minutes looking for one until he finally found one on the basement floor.
South Quadrangle has a similar problem. It has entrances on both the west and east side, however they only connect from the basement and the third floor up. At times, only one side of the dining hall is open to enter. If you walk to the wrong side, you have to exit the building, walk to the other entrance, and enter through the other side. Its even worse of you have to use the restroom. The east side has a women’s restroom, but the one for men is either on the basement or on the third floor. This can be very tedious at times. The west side has a unisex, single person restroom, and God forbid someone is using it at the time, good luck finding another one.
Though these are pretty bad, West Quad really takes the cake on this one. The hall is shaped like a lower case “e” with the main part of it in the center hallway on the 1.5 and 2.5 floors. I use these terms because they are between the first and second floors and between the second and third floors. But the worst part is that the entire hall is divided into eight sections. These sections, which house the dorm rooms, are only connected on the basement and the third floor up. This means, to get from the first or second floor of one section to the first or second floor of another section, one must go down to either the basement or up to the third.
Proposed solution: I’m not too sure what can be done about this problem as buildings are not too easy to change, but it seems a few things can be done to greatly improve these flaws. As far as the restrooms go, these single person restrooms can easily be turned into open public restrooms by adding a stall around the toilet. This would at least let another person use the urinal at the same time and save them the trouble of going down to the basement. The dining hall in Markley has an exit on the south side, which can easily be modified to make another entrance. The sectioned floors in West Quad are all level, but seem to have a wall in the hallway, blocking passage into other sections. These walls can be knocked down to make way into adjacent sections.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Michigan architecture, from the Union to the Law Quad to the Tappan building, but I think I’m safe saying Michigan dorms were definitely not designed by Michigan alumni.