The lion tamer's whip doesn't crack anymore

[austin_dern]

Now for some pictures from the severely modernist campus of Utrecht University:

	Presented without comment. I lie; how could I not comment about this? It's a wooden half-pipe standing the middle of the hallway, on a sort of landing between one floor of classrooms and another. It runs maybe a third of the length of the open area, and it's there because ... I don't know. But it's obvious from footprints that people run into it to see how far up they can go.
	This is the wall outside one of the lecture halls, helpfully identified as Theatron, which you'll remember was the name of the robot that Megatron overthrew to become leader of the Decepticons. The lecture halls had names which look like Dutch versions of the Greek alphabets and the labels are pretty nice, catchy things. Still, the aluminum sheen and the Theatron and goodness but doesn't that logo look like an alien reptile eye? Now?
	This is not the inside of Theatron, but rather of the lecture hall across the narrow and sloping stairway, Megaron. Yes, that's a center aisle that slopes at a freaky weird angle across the seats that look like the display board for a bad movie computer of the 1960s. It's also extremely disorienting to walk down.
	There's nothing really weird about this floor marking. I just really like the word ``Studieplek'' and appreciate the whole melodic syllable flow of ``Studieplek nodig?''.
	On the gentle incline outside were a couple of mock boulders. Why imitation boulders? Well, so they could have lights set up inside them to glow in the evening and night sky. At this point there's no reason to ask why any further. This is just how the horta eggs telepathically commune with Sargon.
	And the outside of a building near the bus stop. Again there's that wonderful bad movie computer of the 1960s color scheme, with the lobby painted by the light. We spent a lot of time smiling in honest delight at the architecture; it's wonderfully, defiantly of its era and joyful for that.

Trivia: In his first attempt to send ice from New England to the Caribbean, in 1806, Fredric Tudor lost between three and four thousand dollars. He tried again promptly. Source: The Frozen-Water Trade: A True Story, Gavin Weightman.

Currently Reading: A Game Of Inches: The Stories Behind The Innovations That Shaped Baseball, Peter Morris.

Comments

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Either they're practicing environmental enrichment ala the local zoo*, or the arts department tends toward big installation pieces.



*From which many schools and workplaces would benefit, honestly.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Possibly so. Possibly both. I have to admit that odd as things like the half-pipe and the glowing rocks are, they're artistic, and the casual viewer can definitely see they're meant to be interesting. Really, much of the campus is like that. It hasn't tipped over into Brutalist Nightmare.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Also, interestingly enough (to me), "theatron" is classical Greek. It denotes the bowl-shaped seating area where an audience sits to watch a play or presentation. So, it probably was a theatron behind that door.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

It was a large theater with stadium seating, but not a bowl-shaped one.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

And the other lecture hall --- the one with the colored seats and diagonal center aisle --- was Megaron, by the way.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

"The large Ron"...

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Jeremy?