PROCESS from Page 4
informal approach where symmetry
isn t the main idea. It depends on
where you are, what the tradition is.”
Benson said many urban campuses
such as UNL’s run out of space, lead
ing to dense layouts.
“There’s more stress in transporta
tion patterns, parking, etc. There are
many more high-rise buildings today
than 50 years ago,” he said.
Although the urban jungle is de
scending upon the nation’s campuses,
Benson still believes green space has a
place.
“I think most campuses that have
some agreeable impact on people and
are a pleasure to be in have maintained
plantings and landscaping.” he said.
“It’s nice to be in an area that’s green,
with plantings and trees.”
Benson said planners want to pro
tect UNL’s open spaces.
Today’s designers also have been
moving toward large, open
spaces within buildings, which
Benson said provide students with a
place to get together informally.
“This can be a very effective part of
the learning experience,” he said.
Benson said an example of such a
design is the connecting link between
the the two wings of Architecture Hall.
“There’s a lot of vertical space there.
There’s lots of things happening three
dimensionally ” he said.
Benson added that these trends are
making themselves apparent in de
signs for upcoming construction. The
College of Business Administration
addition is to include a large open
meeting space, he said.
As for the rest of the campus, Ben
son said, he hopes new designs will be —
more integrated, unlike the layout of
existing buildings.
“We have an opportunity as we
expand east to 21st Street to create a
quadrant of the campus that can have
more cohesiveness,” he said.
City Campus
.
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STUDENT from Page 3
’ve been impressed with how
I remarkably slow that tech
JL nology’s been used in the
classroom,” Griesen said. “If you’d
asked me 20 years ago, I would have
thought that technology would play a
bigger role now.”
Gade agreed, saying technology will
not change the way students are
taught, at least not in the next century.
“Television didn’t make nearly the
impact as we thought it would," she
said. “I can’t imagine that the normal
university of the future will be elec
tronic.”
However, lower costs and greater
availability of computers may ease
technology’s entry into the classroom.
And good, old-fashioned capitalism
might also act as an impetus. Class
room technology may be marketed in
the same way textbooks are now.
“In the future, one person will de
velop (classroom technology) and will
market it all over the country,” Grie
sen said.
Technology already has dramati
cally affected students’ lives outside the
classroom and will continue to do so,
Griesen predicted. Just in the past five
years, he said, the degree to which
UNL offices rely on automation has
increased dramatically.
He cited the effectiveness of the
new computerized card 'cata
log at Love Library and the es
sential role computers play in the serv
ices at the Career Planning and Place
ment Center.
“These are marvelous innova
tions,” he said. “We’ll have much
mdre of those in the future.”
Better technology will make the uni
versity more stuaent-friendly, Griesen
said. Even now, “if I get a call from a .
. . student, I can prop the phone on my
shoulder, turn my chair 90 degrees
and call up information I need on my
computer.”
Although technological advances
should ease the educational process for
students, faculty and administrators,
they will not make campus classrooms
totally foreign to current students, at
least in the next century.
Now things are
looked at more
closely. The plan
ning process has
been refined and
extended.
—Ray Coffey,
UNL manager of business
and finance