New campus building, "The Commons"

Discuss today what is happening on campus non-athletically; departments, non-athletic facilities, professors, recognitions and issues. No athletics allowed.
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PeteRasche
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New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by PeteRasche »

Three stories, across from the library (replacing Jones Hall), housing dining, meeting spaces, and the Newcomb College Institute. Joined to the LBC with a second floor walkway, basically it sounds like a virtual expansion of the LBC. It will be the beginning of the end for Bruff Commons.

http://news.tulane.edu/pr/construction- ... -institute

Looks a lot like many college buildings I've seen planned or built lately. It will be interesting to see whether this all-glass look ages well.

The official quotes in the story sure tick off all the modern day buzzwords. Engagement, anyone? 8)
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by TUPF »

I like the LBC. Sure beats the old UC (I tried to find the old pool footprint in December and no one knew what I was talking about.).
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TU77CAL82
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by TU77CAL82 »

PeteRasche wrote:Three stories, across from the library (replacing Jones Hall) . . .
I think Jones remains. It's going where the Newcomb Dean's House was demolished and toward the quad.
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by Roller »

I wish the article had included a site map.
:?
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sr
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by sr »

TU77CAL82 wrote:
PeteRasche wrote:Three stories, across from the library (replacing Jones Hall) . . .
I think Jones remains. It's going where the Newcomb Dean's House was demolished and toward the quad.
Taking down Jones just doesn't make sense. All of Tulane's Special Collections are in Jones. They would need to come up with a new building to house them.
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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sr wrote:
TU77CAL82 wrote:
PeteRasche wrote:Three stories, across from the library (replacing Jones Hall) . . .
I think Jones remains. It's going where the Newcomb Dean's House was demolished and toward the quad.
Taking down Jones just doesn't make sense. All of Tulane's Special Collections are in Jones. They would need to come up with a new building to house them.
Ah, my bad. I thought Jones has long been slated for demolition. On Google maps, that corner didn't look large enough to hold the new building without Jones coming down.

As Roller said, we need a site map.
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by PeteRasche »

sr wrote:Glass glass and more glass ...

https://twitter.com/tulanealumni/status ... 7601468416
Same pic from the story I linked... :mrgreen:
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by GretnaGrn »

TUPF wrote:I like the LBC. Sure beats the old UC (I tried to find the old pool footprint in December and no one knew what I was talking about.).
How quickly time flies. The pool was still there when I started college (in 89) but was demolished that year. Doesn't seem like that long ago....
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by MattK »

PeteRasche wrote:
sr wrote:Glass glass and more glass ...

https://twitter.com/tulanealumni/status ... 7601468416
Same pic from the story I linked... :mrgreen:
Lots and lots of glass in the middle of oak trees during hurricane season. What could possibly go wrong?
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by sr »

Some creative name options from FTW ...

https://twitter.com/FearTheWaveBlog/sta ... 1851237381
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by GreenieBacker »

mixed feelings about seeing old Bruff Commons building going away. Ate many a meal there, washed my clothes and picked up my mail............
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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GreenieBacker wrote:mixed feelings about seeing old Bruff Commons building going away. Ate many a meal there, washed my clothes and picked up my mail............
I only have good feelings for the old girl. It was pretty good to me. When you are the first in the family to go to college from a family where balanced meals were not a given, Bruff looked pretty good. I used to clench my jaw when a Phelps suitemate from a wealthy Miami family would constantly run the food down. This was a guy who made a big show of choosing the color of the new sports car Dad was going to get him. :roll:
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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never had a problem with eating at Bruff, it evolved into a big social event over time. Something we looked forward to. I know nothing stays the same and I realize that college students today expect a dining experience much grander(?) than we did.
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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GreenieBacker wrote:never had a problem with eating at Bruff, it evolved into a big social event over time. Something we looked forward to. I know nothing stays the same and I realize that college students today expect a dining experience much grander(?) than we did.
It was the same way when I was there, awhile after you (graduated '93). There was a communal experience there, especially as an underclassman, and the social aspect was far more important than the food.
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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I had a different experience than you, GretnaGrn, though we were peers. Being on the team and therefore the meal plan, we ate there all four years (for redshirted me, five). The sense I got was after freshman year, if not sooner, no one wanted to eat there. It could have been the TUPF situation where wealthy kids turned up their noses; it certainly was beneath upperclassmen to be seen there amongst the freshmen. The food, at least lunch and dinner, was typical average-to-bad mass-produced stuff, except for the New Orleans dishes, much of which is better when made in large quantities, sitting in pots half a day (red beans, jambalaya, etc.) Breakfast was good of course (all you can eat bacon? C'mon!). The addition of the frozen yogurt machine in my third or fourth year - even despite it being constantly empty or broken - was a boon to us unlimited calorie athletes and a boondoggle for freshmen trying not to have the "freshman 15" become the "freshman 40".
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by TUPF »

PeteR, your frozen yogurt anecdote reminded me about my Submarine Force days. Food is very good to outstanding on an underway submarine. Opiate of the masses. The mess specialists (cooks) are wizards. Submariners put up with a lot, being submerged for weeks and months at a time, but two things will cause threats of bodily harm: run out of coffee, followed closely by not keeping the frozen ice cream machine running 24/7. We had a non-nuclear machinist (they are called A-gangers and are a cult unto themselves) who went to “ice cream machine school” and was responsible for fixing any glitches. He was either a hero or a goat.
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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The contemporary report from students as well as my wife (who has to eat there occasionally) is that they've really improved in the last 5 years, and it is actually pretty good, but it doesn't vary much, so they all get really tired of it. Especially because freshman have to buy a meal plan with like 11 or 12 meals a week on it, so they "have" to eat there a LOT (or else waste money). Because of this, a lot of them eat at Loyola's dining hall because meal swipes are interchangeable between the two universities, so they go to "Luff" (short for Loyola Bruff, even though Loyola's food hall isn't actually called Bruff or Luff). The Hullabaloo estimates that 38% of Tulane food swipes are at Luff. This has led to resentment from Loyola students who don't like the longer food lines, and who use Bruff at far less of a rate than Tulane students use Luff. For this reason, MANY of my wife's Tulane students own one Loyola sweatshirt or tshirt to put on when they go to Luff in order to try to blend in.
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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PeteRasche wrote:I had a different experience than you, GretnaGrn, though we were peers. Being on the team and therefore the meal plan, we ate there all four years (for redshirted me, five). The sense I got was after freshman year, if not sooner, no one wanted to eat there. It could have been the TUPF situation where wealthy kids turned up their noses; it certainly was beneath upperclassmen to be seen there amongst the freshmen. The food, at least lunch and dinner, was typical average-to-bad mass-produced stuff, except for the New Orleans dishes, much of which is better when made in large quantities, sitting in pots half a day (red beans, jambalaya, etc.) Breakfast was good of course (all you can eat bacon? C'mon!). The addition of the frozen yogurt machine in my third or fourth year - even despite it being constantly empty or broken - was a boon to us unlimited calorie athletes and a boondoggle for freshmen trying not to have the "freshman 15" become the "freshman 40".
I should have clarified; it was a big social experience as a freshman. As folks moved off campus, it ceased being so sometime during sophomore year. I meant as a freshman but never said it in my post.

And let's not forget unlimited, and varied, sugary cereals at breakfast as well!
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by PeteRasche »

Interesting that we worked out a deal to share with Loyola, though I suppose that was the food service company and not necessarily the schools. I had nearly ZERO interaction with Loyola, or Loyola students, in my time at Tulane. Never stepped foot on their campus outside of two times being in a friend's car who parked in their garage.

Though interestingly I crossed paths with a woman last weekend wearing a Camellia Grill tshirt, and upon my acknowledging comment, she said she went to Loyola. I said "Tulane", we nodded knowing approval at each other, and continued on our ways. I wonder what the Loyola alumni count is here in Cincinnati (probably single digits).
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

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PeteRasche wrote:I had a different experience than you, GretnaGrn, though we were peers. Being on the team and therefore the meal plan, we ate there all four years (for redshirted me, five). The sense I got was after freshman year, if not sooner, no one wanted to eat there. It could have been the TUPF situation where wealthy kids turned up their noses; it certainly was beneath upperclassmen to be seen there amongst the freshmen. The food, at least lunch and dinner, was typical average-to-bad mass-produced stuff, except for the New Orleans dishes, much of which is better when made in large quantities, sitting in pots half a day (red beans, jambalaya, etc.) Breakfast was good of course (all you can eat bacon? C'mon!). The addition of the frozen yogurt machine in my third or fourth year - even despite it being constantly empty or broken - was a boon to us unlimited calorie athletes and a boondoggle for freshmen trying not to have the "freshman 15" become the "freshman 40".
Pete I don't think it was wealthy kids turning their noses up at it after freshman year, so much as it was inconvenient and poor value once people moved off campus or if staying on campus realized it was expensive for what you got (essentially dinner). I almost never ate their for lunch since I was either in class or heading to class. Once people started moving off campus it became super inconvenient and eating at bruff alone didn't seem appealing.
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by GreenieBacker »

ate a few time at Dana Center(?), I think that's what it was called, food seemed to be bout the same as Bruff (back then) but the change in scenay was nice.

Gretna, unlike you, my circle of friends ate at Bruff all the years we were students. It evolved into a big social event, we even had "our" table (circular table in the corner). I still have fond memories of those times but I realize that we may have been an exception. Also, back then, there were many, many fewer dining options. We had the UC and the Dana Center but that was about it for on campus dining.

Oh, and the Rat. Fond memories there too! :lol:
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by windywave »

GreenieBacker wrote:ate a few time at Dana Center(?), I think that's what it was called, food seemed to be bout the same as Bruff (back then) but the change in scenay was nice.

Gretna, unlike you, my circle of friends ate at Bruff all the years we were students. It evolved into a big social event, we even had "our" table (circular table in the corner). I still have fond memories of those times but I realize that we may have been an exception. Also, back then, there were many, many fewer dining options. We had the UC and the Dana Center but that was about it for on campus dining.

Oh, and the Rat. Fond memories there too! :lol:
The Rat was probably better when anyone could drink beer
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by GreenieBacker »

Yes, yes it was windy.

Oh those crazy days when the legal drinking age was 18.....

*sigh*
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Re: New campus building, "The Commons"

Post by GretnaGrn »

windywave wrote:
GreenieBacker wrote:ate a few time at Dana Center(?), I think that's what it was called, food seemed to be bout the same as Bruff (back then) but the change in scenay was nice.

Gretna, unlike you, my circle of friends ate at Bruff all the years we were students. It evolved into a big social event, we even had "our" table (circular table in the corner). I still have fond memories of those times but I realize that we may have been an exception. Also, back then, there were many, many fewer dining options. We had the UC and the Dana Center but that was about it for on campus dining.

Oh, and the Rat. Fond memories there too! :lol:
The Rat was probably better when anyone could drink beer
Not only drink beer, but buy it using your meal card. Good times.

And none of this cursed sunlight they decided to let in with the renovations!

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