Architecture at the University has had some highs and lows. I’d say the burning of the Rotunda in 1895 was a blessing in disguise, as it got rid of the horrible addition on the back, and the University received an amazing design by Standford White.

Later, in spite of the bureaucracy of a state University, including the politics of a Board of Visitors, raising funds (i.e. keeping donors happy and generous) for new buildings and preservation issues, UVa has actually managed to put up a few new buildings that are brilliant and blend in well. My personal favorite is the relatively new English building, Bryan Hall, designed by Michael Graves.

It slipped in behind the amphitheater and created a perfect solution to overcrowded walkways. The palette and attention to proportions pays respect to the architectural history surrounding it, yet brings it up to date. Finally, it took a made the most of some very tricky topography.

Alright, I’ll stop yammering now. What are some of your favorite campus designs? Olmsted at Stanford? The campus redesign by Hargreaves at The University of Cincinnati? The built-to-look-aged-quickly Gothic of Duke (OK, I’m not sure that’s a fact, but whatever)? The Square that has emerged around Harvard? The amphitheater at Swarthmore? Perhaps an urban campus that works well?

The craziest thing I saw on his website was the Longaberger Basket Building.

Oh. My. God. I’m speechless. So I ask anyone who has read Venturi and Scott-Brown, is this the biggest duck you’ve ever seen or what? If not, what’s the biggest duck you’ve ever seen? Or is this a basket-shaped shed? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll definitely think I’ve lost my mind.

Anyway, I promise to get back to Campus design tomorrow. There are so many great buildings and campus designs out there to admire (and a lot to make fun of as well). So for homework, check out recent work at MIT by Stephen Holl and Frank Gehry (here and here), and discuss amongst yourselves. You can do that here if you wish. Come on, I’m bored! Tell me what you think!

. . . some cool dorm inspiration . . .
. . . how to determine whether your furniture is for Chillin’, Kickin’ It, or Keepin’ it Real . . .
. . . and how to decorate your blank walls on a budget.

Today’s Friday. Class is not in session this weekend, plus you’ve got a day off Monday. Enjoy it. We’ll leave you with a final list of tips for the semester: dorm room decorating “Dos and Don’ts”. These tried-and-true rules will have your place looking ship-shape in no time.

Links:
View College and Dorm Decor Dos and Don’ts

My roommate grew up in a naked house, and thus is very comfortable lettin’ it all hang out all day long. How can I avoid the view?

Signed,
Afraid to Open My Eyes

Dear Afraid,

Please invest in a Designer’s Eye Wall Room Divider.

It comes in different colors and if you ever get a roommate whose birthday suit you want to see, you can roll it up and store it with ease. Good luck!

Dear Becky,

My frat brothers have adopted a three legged dog that has never been house-trained. My room is getting rather fragrant. What to do?

Signed,
Juan Epstein

Dear Juan,

I feel your pain. It reminds me of when The Dude has to toss out his urine soaked rug in “The Big Lebowski” and keeps lamenting that “it really tied the room together man!”

First, nail the doggy door shut. This will not only keep Spot out, it will prevent your hygienically-challenged brothers from crawling through it in order to borrow your deodorant.

Second, treat yourself to an Angela Adams cotton rug, like the Bruno Suede or the Raindrop Moonstone. It will impress the ladies and it will really tie the room together, man.

In our marketing research for our new Modern College & Dorm category, we ran into a lot of confusion out there. We’d show one group of students a chair, for example, and the consensus was that they’d use the chair for kickin’ it. We’d show another group of students the same chair, and that second group would insist that they’d use the chair for chillin’. And still a third group — our control — would opt for keepin’ it real in the chair.

These responses left us perplexed. We regrouped back at the office and had to do some real soul-searching. We knew that a lot of our furniture was multifunctional, but it was asking an awful lot for a single college student to use one piece for both kickin’ it and chillin’. Chillin’ and keepin’ it real? Even more difficult. And kickin’ it and keepin’ it real? Forget it — nearly impossible given the limitations in current bent-ply and MDF manufacturing techniques.

Granted, some DWR-ites were running their mouth at an SF party recently and let it slip to my business partner Sina that they have prototyped a new chair that can indeed serve to kick it, keep it real, and chill. I remain skeptical. They said the same thing about the Barcelona chair once, but look what happened to that — so many reproductions it’s impossible to keep it real. I’ll believe it when I see it. Until then, we’ve pulled together this Design Public guide to help you through your furnishing.

Please use it as a guideline and be careful not to use our furniture for something other than for what it was intended.

View our guide to Kickin’ It, Chillin’ and Keepin’ It Real.

What’s first on our list? Inspiration. Look at your dorm room. Does it lack character? Are you face-to-face with cinder-block walls and bunk beds? If you had a washbasin in your room, would people mistake it for the state penitentiary?

Consider adding some cool dorm furniture and accessories to your space. We’ve created a new section on our site, Inspiration: College, and filled it with enough high-design, affordable options to get your creative right brain thinking of how you can differentiate your space and assert your own style. And the options are versatile — they’ll work well for a first apartment, college or dorm.

Like what you see? Set up a wishlist and try to bring together some products to create a great space.

Links:
View our Modern College & Dorm category
View our College & Dorm Inspirations feature
Create a wishlist

For me that meant a fourth floor walk-up dorm room double with no A/C and no cross-breeze in humid central Virginia, and after that, crappy apartments with crappier furniture. Everyone I knew had a hand-me-down brown plaid ’70’s sofas from someone’s parents’ moldy basement and side tables fashioned from yeasty empty kegs.

Granted, we were all strapped for cash – I used to write checks for 49 cents for blue books and charge a can of soda due to lack of actual cash. However, cardboard drawers, plastic milk crates, hazardous clip lamps and hideous shelves made of concrete blocks and rough boards still cost money, and were useless throw-away furniture.

You may as well invest a little more money in some quality items that you will be able to use long after graduation. You will be able to save some money by having people over to a presentable place instead of going out. If you are in University Housing, crappy furniture will likely be provided for you, but you can make your space much more livable with fresh accessories.

We’ve assembled a few lists of possibilities for your dorm room, living room, kitchen and study areas. You may see an item or two you didn’t realize you needed, or you may furnish the whole place. Either way, have fun browsing. It is possible to make your college digs as cushy and comfortable as any crib owned by Russell Simmons.