November 2009 Recap and Poll Results [GlasgowUniPhoto.com]
The winner of The Ugliest Building at Glasgow University is… the Boyd Orr Building!! Hurray!
The 1960s were not a good time for Glasgow University, architecturally speaking. The November poll asked for visitors’ opinions on the ugliest building on campus and out of the top ten ugliest buildings on campus, six (6!!!) were built in the 1960s. Running down the list below, we have the Adam Smith Building (1967), Queen Margaret Union (1969), Rankine Building (1969), University Library (1968), Stevenson Building (1961) and the Fraser Building (originally built in 1966, refurbished for 2009). The odd ones out are the winner, the Boyd Orr Building, opened in 1972, the Round Reading Room, which predates the move of the University to Gilmorehill, the Joseph Black Building, built between 1936 and 1954 and extended in the 1960s and 1982, and finally the enigmatic Maths Building, for which I couldn’t find a year that it opened, although I know it was pretty much the same time as the Boyd Orr Building.
In other words, six of the ugliest buildings at Glasgow University, two are from the very early 1970s, and one more was extended in the 1960s. Not a very good decade I guess.
Top ten ugliest buildings below, full results of the poll here.
Below are thumbnails to all the 30 posts from the past month.
![November 1st: E is for... Education [ABC Sundae]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2784/4087645490_fbe2058abc_s.jpg)
![November 15th: F is for... Food [ABC Sundae]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2669/4079822885_5a9505c96b_s.jpg)
![November 29th: G is for... Graffiti [ABC Sundae]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2555/4101140307_107b9321b3_s.jpg)
As a final note, my apologies for the non-daily posting. I’m attempting to get the blog up to date by posting everything retroactively.
The last poll for 2009 asks how you would grade the past year.
Bagpipes
In case one needs more reminders of being in Glasgow and Scotland, there aren’t many such better than bagpipes. Spotted this one a while back near the Main Building, pacing back and forth tuning his instrument, or something like that. Can one tune a bagpipe? Or is it supposed to be out of tune?
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
G is for… Graffiti [ABC Sundae]
Graffiti is ubiquitous in the Western world and why would a University campus be any different. Graffiti is pretty much any writing or drawing on property and is thus literally everywhere, and it doesn’t have to be disruptive or a mere elaborate tag or pseudonym. Sometimes it’s for comedic expression, venting exam stress, or a statement.
The above is from the men’s bathroom downstairs in the Glasgow University Library, before the welcome desk. I’ll post some more photos of scribbled and painted words, messages and ‘words of wisdom’ every now and then, all under the tag ‘graffiti‘.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Flint Arrowheads
Just a step away from Glasgow University is the Kelvingrove Museum. My first Archaeology tutorial was in the Kelvingrove Museum, learning about the history of neolithic Scotland, and ending with us carefully playing with flint arrowheads from the Neolithic Age, the Iron Age and the Mesolithic Age. The first two arrowheads above are from the Iron Age, the second two from the Neolithic Age.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Diagram of an Object
Sitting just outside the Hunterian Art Gallery, next to one of the busiest stretches of walkway on campus, is a bronze piece of art. How many students can name it?
That’s the problem with art on a University campus. Most students don’t know/care about art or statues or random bronze shapes.
The above piece of art, located on one of the most visible spots on campus, is called Diagram of an Object, 1990, by Indian-born Dhruva Mistry.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Pink
When it isn’t raining or overcast, the sky in Glasgow can get quite pretty. The street lamps seen in the photo are the same all along the length of University Avenue.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Lion On The Roof
I saw this back in June when I was trying to take a photo of the Pearce Lodge. This is just to the side of the James Watt (North) Building, which houses the Department of Computing Sciences. Another reminder to keep looking up, as Victorian architects tended to decorate their masterpieces with ornate little statues and whatnot.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Books Cast Away?
I’ve been trying to figure out when to feature this photo. I took it for the Glasgow Guardian, the student newspaper at Glasgow University, for an article on ‘books in flight’, or something like that. Never got used, so I was throwing books around at the Botanic Gardens for nothing.
This week or next week most courses end their lectures and tutorials and most students will be casting off their books and heading out for the holidays. Yeah, no. The next few weeks are when most students consume a lot of books as the December exams begin on December 8th and run on until December 18th. There’ll be many who’ll wish they could do this to their books, so this can serve as an alternative to that.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
View North from Adam Smith T415
The way lecture theatre T415 in the Adam Smith Building slightly jots out of the side of the building also gives one a view north, as well as west, as seen in yesterday’s photo. The grey concrete and glass structure to the right there is pat of the Adam Smith Building, specifically the staff offices of the Politics and Sociology Departments. The hills to the north are the Campsies, or the Campsie Fells, a range of hills stretching east to west, from south Stirling to Dumgoyne in East Dunbartonshire.
This photo and yesterday’s photo were not taken on the same day, can you tell?
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
The View from Adam Smith T415
This is the view from Lecture Theatre T415 in the Adam Smith Building. This is the view towards the West, overlooking Glasgow’s West End. On a nice day you can easily and clearly see the Erskine Bridge about 12 kilometres away. Frequently you can see airplanes on final approach to Glasgow Airport. With all this, try sitting next to this window at 9am and focus on Rousseau or Hobbes and their ponderings about the State of Nature. Then again, on a particularly nasty day you’re counting your blessings you’re inside looking out, not outside in the rain. Oh, and I can see my flat from the lecture theatre. That’s always nice.
The green-topped giant right there, again, is the Boyd Orr Building, the whiteish building below it is the Queen Margaret Union, and the rooftops at the foot of the photo belong to the Lilybank House.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?] Click on the photo above for a larger version. Please rate the photo below! © 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Adam Smith Lecture Theatre T415
This window is the one aesthetic feature of the Adam Smith Building which stands out of the rigid concrete block format. I’ll have to post a photo of the outside of the building to show what I mean. Moving a bit to the left from the lecturer’s podium where I yesterday’s photo from, the other unfortunate downside of the design of this lecture theatre is that although the window (sometimes) floods the room with natural light, it also creates a HUGE distraction. Some lecturers opt to lower the curtains, which is not a bad idea, especially on the occasional pretty and uncharacteristically sunny.
Want to see what the view looks like? That’ll be tomorrow’s photo for you. By the way, the green topped block taking up a large chunk of the view right there is the Boyd Orr Building, which is actually a lot taller than the Adam Smith Building. It just looks a bit shorter because it sits a bit down the hill.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?] Click on the photo above for a larger version. Please rate the photo below! © 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
A Lecturer’s View, Adam Smith T415
As University students we spend a healthy portion of our time in lectures listening to a lecturer present a subject with varying degrees of entertainment. The lecture theatres on campus vary vastly, some being old and cramped with hard wooden seats or the occasional leather covering from the 19th century, some decked out in shades of blue and purple with plenty of space to stretch out your legs. This particular lecture theatre is in the Adam Smith Building, top floor, Room T415. It might just be the one redeeming feature of the not-so-pretty 1960s concrete block.
The lecture theatre does have two downsides to it:
- It’s on the 4th floor of the Adam Smith Building, which is at the top of Gilmorehill, so you spend the first 10 minutes of the lecture trying to catch your breath. Well, at least I do after running up the hill and then the stairs to my 9am Politics 2A lectures.
- That big window on the right hand side of the photo. What window? Why? I’ll show you in tomorrow’s post.
I’m usually in too big of a rush to get to my next lecture/tutorial/lunch/power nap to stick around and take photos, but I’m going to try to do this more often, take photos from the lecturer’s podium. ‘Try’ being the operative word.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?] Click on the photo above for a larger version. Please rate the photo below! © 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Autumn Is Almost Over
The trees are almost completely bare, the leaves of fiery colours disintegrating into a brown mush on the ground, the air feeling a bit crisper. Yep, Autumn is almost over and “winter” is approaching. (The bunny ears are there because last winter didn’t feel very wintery here in Scotland, so here’s to hoping this year will bring more snow etc.) It also means that be can look forward to persistently dull overcast skies, revision, exams, Christmas parties, and the crazy loons who insist on wearing a t-shirt and shorts throughout the winter.
This shot was taken from next to the Round Reading Room, visible on the left there. The building on the left is the Wellington Church and the Fraser Building is peeking from behind the Round Reading Room.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?] Click on the photo above for a larger version. Please rate the photo below! © 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Debating at Glasgow University
Ah, debating. The art of arguing with a referee and without bloodshed. Glasgow University has a long, strong, proud relation, tradition and history with debating. According to Wikipedia:
Glasgow has led the UK’s university debating culture since 1953. In 1955, the GUU won the Observer Mace, now the John Smith Memorial Mace, named after the deceased GUU debater and former leader of the British Labour Party. The GUU has since won the Mace debating championship fourteen more times, more than any other university. The GUU has also won the World Universities Debating Championships five times, more than any other university or club in the series’ history.
The Glasgow University Dialectic Society (Facebook) is one of, if not the oldest society on campus, having been founded in 1451 or sometime before the 1770s, with the society being formally re-instituted in 1861. (Wikipedia) Although the Dialectic Society is an independent society and open to all students, it has strong ties with the Glasgow University Union, which has it’s own Debating Club (Facebook). Not to be outdone, the Queen Margaret Union, which also has a long and proud history of debating, has re-introduced debating to their portfolio with the QMU Debating Society (Facebook).
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?] Click on the photo above for a larger version. Please rate the photo below! © 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Sir Alexander Stone Building
This is one of the most recently renamed buildings on campus. Previously known as the Modern Languages Building, the Sir Alexander Stone Building is located just next to the Queen Margaret Union on University Gardens. The Modern Languages Building is now a part of the Hetherington Building just behind this building, on the other side of the Adam Smith Building.
This is now the second building on campus named after Sir Alexander Stone, the first one being up at Garscube, accommodating the Departments of Medical Oncology and Microbiology, and the Beatson laboratories. The newly renamed building is a part of the School of Law, which is somewhat more apt as Sir Alexander Stone was a “lawyer and a bibliophile.” More on the University Story website.
The building you see reflected just around the sign right there is the Boyd Orr Building. Oh, and the ‘School of Law’ bit on the sign? That’s an indication of coming times, as there will apparently be a reshuffling of the Faculties and Department within the University, creating instead Schools and Colleges. I’ll write more when it becomes final during next term.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
What’s This Doing In Glasgow Cathedral?
The answer to the question posed in the title is a lot simpler than it may seem. In the very early days of the University’s life, all the way back to the foundation of the University of Glasgow in 1451, the University was initially based in a charterhouse at the Glasgow Cathedral.
Today, the University Coat of Arms can be seen on side of two front pews in the Glasgow Cathedral, a throwback to the connection between the Cathedral and the University. The other pews are decorated with the Coat of Arms of financers, trade unions, and other groups associated with the Cathedral at one time or another.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
F is for… Food [ABC Sundae]
Students have to eat, don’t they? Although there are numerous cafés and other such dispensaries of food just off campus on Byres Road, Great Western Road and Gibson Street, why make the extra trek to them when there are cafés and cafeterias sprinkled around campus, such as the Food To Go pictured above. There’s surprisingly quite a few cafés around campus:
- Food For Thought, Fraser Building
- Food To Go, Fraser Building
- One A The Square Café
- One A The Square Brasserie
- John McIntyre Café
- Atrium Café, Wolfson Medical School Building
- St Andrews Building Café
- Café Picolino, Boyd Orr Building
- Links Café, Wolfson Building
- Food Farm, Faulty of Veterinary Medicine (Garscube)
- Food In Focus, Library Level 3 Annexe
If that’s not enough, there are a few more in the student unions:
- Hetherington Research Club
- Food Factory at the QMU
- Lacuna at the QMU
- Union Cafe at the GUU
- Subway at the GUU
The opening times and etcetera can be found on the University Website under Catering. In writing this post I discovered a further three cafés I’ve yet to visit, although most of them I only visit for the occasional cup of coffee on my way through. Which one’s your favourite cafeteria?
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Posting Problems, Again (Update: Fixed)
Once again, I’m having trouble posting pictures to the blog. I’ve had absolutely no connection to the internet at home for a whole week now due to Virgin Broadband completely ignoring us and replying to our emails with the identical canned reply twice now. We;ve had no access to the DSL service for the last 8 days now, and spotty connection for the 4 days before that. Best thing is that we’ve only been a customer with Virgin Broadband for 3 weeks as of today.
With my mobile phone broken and landline not working (landline also provided by Virgin Media), I can’t call technical support and the people at the Virgin Store on Buchanan Street couldn’t help me either. Calling from a mobile costs about £20 for an hour. I know this because that’s how much I spent calling tech support without ever getting through to them. lack of access to the internet is also inhibiting my primary tasks, such as studying and essay writing as I can’t do any research online and I don’t have the time to sit at the library until 2am every day (which is what I’ve had to do a lot of recently). Who do I have to bribe or scream at to get access to a service I’m paying for?
I’ll return to regular posting as soon as I can, but the posts will be slow in catching up, hopefully starting tonight and so on retroactively whenever I get the chance to be online. Internet finally fixed at home, I’ll get back to normal posting in a few days, just finishing off a few essays, the last two of the term.
Bust of MacLellan
Turning around from where yesterday’s photo was taken, inside the Round Reading Room, at one end of the seemingly abandoned staff desks, sits a bust of a man with very impressive sideburns. (I say ‘seemingly abandoned’ because the services have moved to the Fraser Building next door and the desk in question looks like everyone just got up and moved buildings in a rush.)
The text on the bottom of the bust reads:
Walter MacLellan
1815-89
of Blairvaddick
in whose memory
Hillhead House was gifted to the University
by his family
1917
Which is relatively self-explanatory. Then why is the Round Reading Room also known as the McMillan (or MacMillan) Reading Room? Why not the MacLellan Reading Room? Then again, most students simply refer to it as the Round Reading Room. Furthermore, I doubt most students know that the building is called the McMillan Reading Room.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Sir Gilbert Scott Building
As it’s Friday the 13th today, I figured I’d post a somewhat gloomy looking picture. The Main Building of the University of Glasgow, also known as the Sir Gilbert Scott Building, photo taken from the Round Reading Room, where I noticed a bit back I haven’t actually been to until now. The Main Building is named after the original architect who designed and built most of the Main Building.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
QMU By-Election
I did a collage a few weeks back of the SRC elections and the campaigning that took place on campus for it, and I decided to do the same for the QMU by-election campaigning. Election days are some of the most colourful days on campus, so it’s always increasingly difficult to choose just one photo to represent the day full.
I don’t have the results of the by-election, and I can’t find them anywhere on the QMU website, but congratulations to everyone who got elected.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Remembrance Day
Walking down Kelvin Way today I noticed a sight you don’t see too often in Glasgow: the Union Jack (or Union Flag, whichever you want to call it). It took me a minute to connect the dots and figure out why this particular flag was being flown by the University. Then it hit me. It’s Remembrance day today (Veterans Day in the USA).
When I say that you don’t see many Union Flags in Glasgow, I mean I don’t think I’ve seen more than a few in the last year and a bit. Can you name any place in Glasgow where you’d be able to see the Union Flag? They seem to be everywhere in Edinburgh, but not Glasgow.
Before you ask, yes the photo has been edited. When I took the photo the weather was quite gloomy and autumn-like, which meant the picture was all dark and gloomy.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Wellington Church at Night
The Wellington Church on University Avenue is one of the few buildings on the road that is not owned by Glasgow University. The parish church, located right next to the Round Reading Room, was built in 1883-4 and belongs to the Church of Scotland. Although Glasgow University does have its own chapel just across the street, Wellington Church does host both religious and secular university events.
Interesting little factoid: most churches of the era preferred a Gothic Revival style of architecture, just like the University’s main building. Had the Wellington Church done the same, it might not stand out too much on University Avenue, although it would have a spire which might rival the University Tower. I guess it’s good that they went with the neoclassical style favoured by United Presbyterian Church who the church was built for in the first place.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
Morning over Glasgow
One of my favourite things to feature on this photo blog are aspects of the University which most people don’t see, either by choice, restriction or lack of knowledge of its existence. I assume most students don’t wander around the various buildings on campus looking for interesting finds, or just to see what the other departments and buildings are holding within them.
The above is a sight which many students won’t see merely because of the circumstances under which this sight is possible. I took the photo at 7.57am from the 10th floor of the University Library. Not too many people around the library at that time, although there were some, hard at work.
The photo looks towards the city centre, and the towers you see in the photo are on Park Circus, just on the other side of the Kelvingrove Park from the University. One day I have to get a shot from the same floor of the libray of the sun setting.
[Poll #6: What is the UGLIEST BUILDING at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com
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