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.

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.

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?]
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© 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?]
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© 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:

1. 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.
2. 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?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

The University from Byres Road

And now, for something completely different. The University of Glasgow lies on Gilmorehill, one of the taller points in the city of Glasgow. I’ve been looking for a shot which would demonstrate how tall the buildings are and that the campus lies at the top of a hill.

This photo, well, this faux-HDR composite photo, was taken from the very top of Byres Road from a third floor window. You can pretty well see the University Library, the very top of the University Tower, the Boyd Orr Building and the roof of the Adam Smith Building. If you click through to the Flickr page by clicking on the photo above, you’ll see that I’ve added notes to the picture detailing where the University buildings are, as well as some of the other West End buildings visible in the photo, such as the Hillhead Library. Just roll your mouse over the photo and you’ll see the notes outlined.

[Poll #4: Which Student Union(s) do you belong to (or use to belong to)?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

View From The Adam Smith Building

There is a downside to a picturesque campus. This photo was taken from a classroom in the Adam Smith Building, during one of my Politics tutorials. If one’s glance and focus wanders, as is the case for many students before noon or a 6-shot Americano from Starbucks, there’s plenty to rest ones eyes on, especially on a sunny day.

Looking in the other direction, away from the Main Building of the University, isn’t any better, as one can see all the way to the hillsides to the Campsies north of Glasgow. Well, at least the University Library blocks most of the view towards the city centre.

[Poll #3: Which Academic Faculty do you belong to at Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com