1201 Chemistry Building

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

Picture #4

 To find an unusual building, I tried to get to some classroom of science building, but for most of them, only authorized people are allowed to enter. After long journey in the campus, I found a chemistry conference room which is 1201 in the Chemistry Building. The Chemistry Building was originally designed by A. J. Jordan in 1856, and there were some additional works in 1909 by Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, and Willard Dow Lab added to the Chemistry Building in 1989 by Harley Ellington Pierce Yee.

 The room seems to be capable of about 30 person in it, but through the arrangement of desks and chairs—there are three desks capable of 4 to 6 persons and 4 to 6 chairs around each desk—I think about 10 to 15 persons might be in the room for few small group discussion sessions. However, there are many chairs that are stacked in a corner—shown in Picture #4—so the number of people in the discussion might be flexible. The only thing which can be called somehow technological device is a projection device in the room—also in the Picture #4. The room does not achieve enough sunlight because of only a few windows—as Picture #1 and #2 shows—and some trees at the outside of the windows. For this reason, this room has plenty of artificial lights in it; there are four lines of fluorescent lights feeling up the ceiling. This place has soft and live mood in it, and I think one of the reason is that the room is not in square or rectangle shape but is in unique shape of figure, and it also has a diagonal line as the Picture #1 shows in its right side. In addition, the irregularly arranged desks and chairs add more live mood. Since the room has three board—two white board and a black board—the room was designed especially for discussion session for few separated groups, and the blue sink in Picture #3 explains that it is specialized chemistry session.