Student Union Construction.

[LaCajunsFan]

1st pic: the main entrance to the bookstore.
2nd pic: looking towards the Rose Garden. Notice the stairway to the left, leading to the huge cafe on the second floor.
3rd & 4th pics: the sign welcoming the students back. Pretty cool....
5th pic: don't know what the both right outside the cafe, but I liked the binder, ;-)

[HelmutVII]

A few more photos of the renovated Student Union. They are continuing with the landscaping and just about finished with the work on the Theater and Ballroom.

A view of the Cypress Lake plaza from the Theater entrance to the Plaza. They have just finished landscaping and planting sod.



A view of the Cypress Lake plaza from one of the exterior staircases.





A view of the Cypress Lake plaza from one of the planters next to the lake. A point of view I have used from the very beginning.





A close up view of the metal cladding at a corner. One of my concerns is wind driven rain will get into the area behind the cladding and penetrate in the open area shown. I assume somebody has thought this out but I'm thinking there is a possibility that this could eventually be a problem.





Our favorite buildings.

[LaCajunsFan]

Hammer: since the post office will be moving in to the U, do you know if the UP will take over all of Bittle? Or is it slated for any other occupants/usage? Thanks

[CajunRebel]

I can't remember if I've said this already but I'll say it again.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining because this building is obviously a massive improvement over the old one, but I still think this building is going to age terribly. I think 20-30 years from now we're going to think about this building in the same way we thought about the old Union. The design itself isn't overly appealing in 2015 and I don't think it will be any more appealing in 2045. Also, the materials & furnishings don't look like they're high quality which makes me think the building is not going to stand up to 30 years of heavy use by college students and South Louisiana weather.

[cajunhawk]

Olivier Hall. I'm shocked that building is still standing upright.

[Turbine]

Someone from the Advocate had the building renamed Lafayette Hall.

Virtually assuring it would have to be torn down.

[HelmutVII]

I can't remember if I've said this already but I'll say it again.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining because this building is obviously a massive improvement over the old one, but I still think this building is going to age terribly. I think 20-30 years from now we're going to think about this building in the same way we thought about the old Union. The design itself isn't overly appealing in 2015 and I don't think it will be any more appealing in 2045. Also, the materials & furnishings don't look like they're high quality which makes me think the building is not going to stand up to 30 years of heavy use by college students and South Louisiana weather.

After getting a close up view of the metal cladding I think that this will be a maintenance nightmare. Who is to say that some student gets a bright idea to take a hammer to it and dent it all up. It looks like you can not remove a piece at the bottom without removing all the pieces above. I fear that it will rust at the field cuts and that it will leak through to the building envelope. We shall see.

[RedTails]

After getting a close up view of the metal cladding I think that this will be a maintenance nightmare. Who is to say that some student gets a bright idea to take a hammer to it and dent it all up. It looks like you can not remove a piece at the bottom without removing all the pieces above. I fear that it will rust at the field cuts and that it will leak through to the building envelope. We shall see.

We can just replace the metal cladding with the faux brick panels we haven't put up on the baseball scoreboard yet.

Can't wait to go check out the progress during the signing bash though.

[LaCajunsFan]

I can't remember if I've said this already but I'll say it again.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining because this building is obviously a massive improvement over the old one, but I still think this building is going to age terribly. I think 20-30 years from now we're going to think about this building in the same way we thought about the old Union. The design itself isn't overly appealing in 2015 and I don't think it will be any more appealing in 2045. Also, the materials & furnishings don't look like they're high quality which makes me think the building is not going to stand up to 30 years of heavy use by college students and South Louisiana weather.

Well, the only thing I agree about is the siding: the last thing we need is maintenance issues, and it seems the siding will be just that.
As for the over design, I think it looks good now, and don't see why it would be an issue in the future.
And all of the other fixtures that I have seen look to me like a great design choice, while also pretty sturdy. I like the look all of the sofas and chairs, and they seem pretty durable to me.....much like you would see in any modern, high-traffic public area. There are a whole lot of pendant light fixtures, and they all seem pretty high-end to me. Better than any I have seen in any College Union. Door handles, signage, flooring, etc. all looked first rate to me....not at all skimpy.
Even the water fountains looked very nice: they have a built in niche for water bottles.

[LuLu]

When are the two eyesores going down? Not soon enough.