Students enjoy features of campus center classrooms

Students attending spring semester classes in the Frist Campus Center last Monday found themselves in a building replete with both historical artifacts and state-of-the-art technology.

Frist 302, an upstairs lecture hall, features rows of old-fashioned chairs that had been in Palmer Hall since its opening. Above the large blackboard hang more remnants of a bygone era — various scientific apparatuses formerly found in Palmer labs, the building where Albert Einstein taught.

The scientific equipment and refurbished seats are part of the University's effort to preserve the history of Palmer Hall, according to Frist Campus Center director Paul Breitman. "We definitely want to take advantage of the historical reference and the previous history that took place in Palmer Hall and bring that into the campus center," he said.

"I think it's kind of cool," said Brooke Estridge '01, who takes POL 316: Civil Liberties in the lecture hall. "It's sort of a reminder that we go to a really old school."

The architectural firm Venturi, Scott, Brown and Associates, which designed the campus center, played a major role in determining which historical pieces would be displayed.

Principal architect Robert Venturi '47, GS '50 — who has designed University buildings such as Wu Hall and Lewis Thomas Laboratories — is "very interested in the historic aspect of the campus, particularly with the character of the building," campus center project manager Bob Barnett said.

Barnett said both the administration and the physics department were interested in salvaging the old scientific instruments. "The truly archival stuff the physics department has, but the more decorative ones were hand-selected by the architect to be reused," he said.

While the architect and builders sought to create a nostalgic atmosphere in Frist, they also wanted to outfit the classrooms with more modern teaching aids, Barnett said.

Each classroom is equipped with a projector and sound capability. The large lecture hall has a sound system as well as video, overhead and rear-screen projection capability. In addition, all the rooms are wired for the Internet.

"It's state-of-the-art technology," Breitman said.

English professor Pat Crain, who teaches ENG 335: Children's Literature in Frist, said she was very happy with the media capabilities of the classrooms. "I did slides this morning which are projected from behind onto this enormous screen, and I also played a piece of video," she said, adding that prior to this semester, she had not used much electronic media in her classes.

Barnett said he was pleased with the opening of the classroom and office space. "It's really rewarding to see people using the space for the intended purpose," he said.

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Despite the many features of the new classrooms, Barnett said he heard one complaint about construction noise in one of the classrooms from a department that held a class there. "It's the classroom directly adjacent to the construction," he said. "We tried to isolate it acoustically, but apparently it wasn't enough."

"Overall it's been a very cooperative environment," Barnett added. "I think people understand that we have to pursue the construction with vigor so we can get done when we're supposed to."