The cover story of the Daily on Friday, Sept. 21 featured the tentative plan for the long-awaited renovations to the library roof. The plan involves dividing the space into three "rooms" which can serve as outdoor classrooms. Library Director Jo-Ann Michalak was quoted in the article saying, "We all agree that the current roof has greater potential for events and beauty." While I have no serious problem with the renovation plan, the project is far from capturing the library roof's "potential" of which Ms. Michalak spoke.
Why do people frequent Tufts' most memorable landmark? With the exception of the campus potheads, most would say they make the journey to take advantage of the wonderful view of Boston.
Yet, in order to see the city, one must walk to either side of the extra story that pokes out obtrusively from the rest of the building. Now, I am not an architect; I am, however, an architectural studies major. It does not make sense to me that this looming form, which seems to serve no interior spatial purpose, would be placed so blatantly in line of the city view.
So in order to see our wonderful city, a visitor must first walk to either side of this monolith. Once at the roof's edge, another ugly form creeps into the view: the lower library roof. The building flows out from beneath our feet, obviously designed without any thought of aesthetics. On the far end of the level, the library's round asp lays unreachable with its unobstructed view of the city, as well as unexplored sightlines down to College Ave. and Professor's Row.
Now, my question to the university is this: While you're investing in renovation, why not renovate the entire library roof? Why bother spending money on a renovation that will only clutter the present design, which is already limited in space? The potential in a full renovation is truly endless.
Just imagine it. There is enough unused space that a thorough renovation could practically double the size of the President's Lawn, doubling the appeal of the roof as a social gathering point.
A renovation could also add to the equation a better interconnectivity between the President's Lawn and the roof area. By installing a stairwell to the right side of Tisch's main entrance, students could flow horizontally across the slope of the hill to get to the roof, instead of having to trek all the way up before doing an about-face to approach the building.
Eco-conscience buildings are the new wave in architecture. Both the design of Sophia-Gordon Hall and the present Greenroof research are part of this movement. By continuing the grass-based theme of the upper roof, the new areas of green would not only contribute an aesthetic link between the President's Lawn and Tisch, but also reinforce Tufts' stance as an ecologically progressive institution.
The result of all this? A completely unprecedented academic setting that would give Tufts unimaginable interscholastic clout. The combination of vast open space with an unobstructed view, the integration of budding trends in architecture and a new flow between the lawn and roof would make the President's Lawn/Tisch Library area an academic landmark that would blow all others out of the water, including notables such as Columbia's green quad or Richmond's lake center gazebo. The roof is already the campus's best attribute, and any expansion would increase its appeal ten-fold.
We are all well aware that the Tufts tours end on the library roof with the hope that it serves as an exclamation point to the end of the sentence that is the rest of campus. Now imagine the tour continuing from the first level, down a set of stairs to the rest of the roof, where, if the designers were ambitious enough, the tour group could grab a bite to eat at the newly erected Tower Caf?© - rooftop edition.
If that experience doesn't add a couple more exclamation points to the end of the campus sentence, I don't know what would.
The only thing that limits the potential of the space is how ambitious the university wants to get. On top of the already proposed rooftop Tower Caf?©, there could be anything from trees, pavilions and "classrooms," as proposed in the present roof renovation, to amphitheaters, gardens, decorative water flow, drive-in style movie walls or even footbridges to other rooftops (such as Eaton's).
Now I doubt that this article will put a stop to the current renovation, but as a student who frequents the roof, I cannot go on griping to my friends about what the school should do without offering my opinion on a public forum. The sad thing is, beyond making noise with articles such as this (and maybe creating a Facebook.com group), there is little that the student body can do to persuade the powers that be.
So for now, all I can do is pray that someone with a say in these matters stumbles across this article and decides to help fight to make this student's vision become a reality - a reality that would be friggin' sweet.
