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Gunna be a great view from those windows.......


Amazing how much better they look than the tan tin.

PAGE 91!

Those north zone ramps are completely enclosed in the brick panels - no windows or openings. How is it ventilated on a 100 degree day, a fan system installed?

Not a complaint or critique. Not second guessing anything. New Kyle Is Life. Just curious.

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Those north zone ramps are completely enclosed in the brick panels - no windows or openings. How is it ventilated on a 100 degree day, a fan system installed?

Not a complaint or critique. Not second guessing anything. New Kyle Is Life. Just curious.

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That's not a completely idiotic question!!

...wait a minute...in those pics on pg 89 of the crane installing the brick facade on the ramp between the zone and east side stands...is that a U of Tenn orange and white checkered flag on top of it?!

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is that a U of Tenn orange and white checkered flag on top of it?!

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Oh great, now we have to check for more wrongholing.

I think about the piddly-ass jobs I do around the house and how many times I have to walk back and forth from the tool shed to whatever I'm working on because I forgot a wrench or a particular screwdriver or nail or something else. I look at the complexity of this job and can't even begin to imagine how much focus, detailed planning-out everything, contracts, headaches, risks and so on that go into this. And, they do this pretty much around the clock, with crew changes, equipment failures, in all kinds of weather, and I just stand in awe. Wow! This "ain't" no po boy school any more. General Rudder would be absolutely blown away if he could see the continuing results of his tough decision to make A&M a coeducational institution. None of this would be happening had he not had the courage to swim against the tide back then. I do have one question (that is in no way a criticism, rather curiosity). When the rest of the campus is constructed in the traditional Aggie earth tones, how was the decision to remodel Olsen Field and Kyle Field in red brick? I think it's gorgeous, but is in stark contrast to the rest of the campus. There are times I wish our campus was the same color as Kyle Field now is. I've seen the OU and Bama campuses, and they're both that color. Oh well, it's just an observation. What a great place to live. We're blessed, Aggies.

The AD decided that 50 Shades of Brown was a tough sell for donors. The brick at Olsen and Kyle is similar to what you find at the Quad, so it's not a total outlier.

I don't have a solid answer but my best guess is that the office of the university architect, who oversees the built environment on campus, always went with tan brick because that's what we historically always had.

As twk said, the red brick at Olsen was likely a result of trying to sell donors on a renovation and the comissioned architect coming up with a more traditional (for college) color pattern. Plus there's been no end to the complaining about the aesthetics of campus. This coincided with a change in mentality from design on a dime to being first class nationally competitive.

All future athletics buildings are going to be in the red brick motif, which I think will go towards delineating them as special purpose buildings vs. classrooms.

As far as campus goes, there are buildings that are worth being saved and those that are not. Any building designed in the Greek Revival style of the 30's and 40's need to stay and money needs to be spent to maintain them. Once the eyesores of the 70's and early 80's have lived past their usefulness, I hope we just gut them and modernize them. I think it will take 50 more years, but the campus can be done right. The new MSC is a good example of this. Now we need to renovate Rudder, Bright, O&M, Blocker, Heldenfelds, Petersen, etc, etc, etc. In the mean time, I hope we work on our grounds themselves. It's amazing what a few hundred thousand dollars in landscaping and design can do.

Fitch is right, you can tell the difference between campuses where money was spent on buildings and where it wasn't. If you ever walk the grounds of schools like Michigan, UNC, UVA, etc, you can see the difference between their facilities and ours. When A&M was a military land grant school, it seemed to build buildings with a utilitarian approach, opposed to design and aesthetics. I don't think the massive amounts of tan would be as noticeable if the buildings where actually aesthetically pleasing and there weren't huge patches of dead grass and dead trees everywhere.

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I don't think the massive amounts of tan would be as noticeable if the buildings where actually aesthetically pleasing and there weren't huge patches of dead grass and dead trees everywhere.

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Exactly. As our campus expanded so quickly, attention wasn't paid to aesthetics of the building design. The buildings would look just as drab and boring if they were red brick instead of beige.

I know that I'm in the minority, but I actually like the beige brick better than red brick on our campus. Aggie Maroon looks a whole lot better against beige than it does against the red brick of Kyle & Olsen.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of those "designed on a dime" buildings quite literally were funded by dimes and dollars. In the early days A&M students by and large had very little money, so giving any amount was a sacrifice.

But since the school became coeducational, and those first really large classes have reached prime earning and retiring years, we're seeing more coin in the coffers that can be spent on more expensive buildings.

As for the landscaping, it's a massive amount of land to cover on campus. I've spoken with the facilities guys before on the subject and they actually do a lot with a really limited budget. Baylor, on the other hand, had a donor step up and give the same amount of money that one would to get naming rights for a building but instead established an endowment that goes towards keeping their (relatively tiny) campus grounds really well maintained.

Yeah, I understand when large swaths of west campus are left not mowed or undeveloped. But in the heart of campus, we need to do a lot more. I often thought about what I would do if I had a large amount of money to give to campus. If it ever happens, I would do the same as that Baylor alum. I think a lot of older Ags are just use to the look since it was always a bit rough around campus back in the day. Maybe that is why no one has done the same for A&M so far. We get one shot to impress a lot of prospective students and visitors, we need to put our best foot forward.

Pictures of Kyle Field yesterday at 7AM and 10AM. Sidenote: Petersen is the ugliest building ever, as you can kind of see from my pictures (closest building). Also, almost all of West Campus needs to be demolished. Kleberg looks worse than Blocker, in my opinion. At least on the outside.

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almost all of West Campus needs to be demolished.

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You shut your ***** mouth, sir!

J/k, thx for the pics!

Anything for a fellow Spur.

GSG!

They have almost 7 months to finish. I think they can do it.

BUMP

I wish there was a webcam for north zone facade - I appreciate the pics of that area on this thread.

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Yeah, I understand when large swaths of west campus are left not mowed or undeveloped. But in the heart of campus, we need to do a lot more. I often thought about what I would do if I had a large amount of money to give to campus. If it ever happens, I would do the same as that Baylor alum. I think a lot of older Ags are just use to the look since it was always a bit rough around campus back in the day. Maybe that is why no one has done the same for A&M so far. We get one shot to impress a lot of prospective students and visitors, we need to put our best foot forward.

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Personally, I think the center of campus around the Academic Building used to look a whole lot better but then all the old live oaks got diseased and died and you just can't replace 100 year old trees over night. Nothing you can do about that. But there certainly is more they could do to make a less treed area look better.

Maybe do something like they did on Freemont Street in Las Vegas?

^
Tearing out all the Spanish moss choking the trees would be agree at place to start.

Spanish moss is a epiphyte and won't kill a live oak unless it covers the leaves reducing photosynthesis. The main issue regarding landscaping in the b/cs area is due to the salty water and poor soil. Secondly we need someone w/ a ton of money to set up a memorial landscaping fund to provide better landscaping for the campus.

I've talked with the department responsible for campus upkeep and they echoed what you said. It's not a parasite leaching from the trees, but it grows so thick and tightly it will prevent them from leafing out.

It's become a serious problem in not just oaks but the crape myrtles and shrub trees around campus. Especially around the MSC and Academic Plaza.

And I agree, an endowment for the maintenance of campus would be something to aim for.

No pictures today, but I'll have some tomorrow. Just wanted to say that its ridiculous how fast the zone exterior is going up. It should be done in a matter of weeks. They've already putting up the facade around the old north west ramp

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Those north zone ramps are completely enclosed in the brick panels - no windows or openings. How is it ventilated on a 100 degree day, a fan system installed?

Not a complaint or critique. Not second guessing anything. New Kyle Is Life. Just curious.

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I was thinking the same thing -- looks better but will definitely be miserable during those hot days.

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No pictures today, but I'll have some tomorrow. Just wanted to say that its ridiculous how fast the zone exterior is going up. It should be done in a matter of weeks. They've already putting up the facade around the old north west ramp

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Your such a TEASE!!!!!!!

Thanks in advance for the pics!!!

Can someone repost the side view elevation drawing of the West side stands?

I can't find it.

Thanks.

Thanks so much!

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Those north zone ramps are completely enclosed in the brick panels - no windows or openings. How is it ventilated on a 100 degree day, a fan system installed?

Not a complaint or critique. Not second guessing anything. New Kyle Is Life. Just curious.

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I was thinking the same thing -- looks better but will definitely be miserable during those hot days.

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The old ramps that are now enclosed are no longer being used

Of course- there is an activation tower right next to it.

Students in the future will be sneaking into the abandoned ramps just like I used to sneak into the steam tunnels.

Maybe Billy Pickard can live in the space.

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Those north zone ramps are completely enclosed in the brick panels - no windows or openings. How is it ventilated on a 100 degree day, a fan system installed?

Not a complaint or critique. Not second guessing anything. New Kyle Is Life. Just curious.

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I was thinking the same thing -- looks better but will definitely be miserable during those hot days.

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The old ramps that are now enclosed are no longer being used

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is there proof of this? just curious

Doors at the base of the ramps mean they'll be used for egress.