Friday, April 16, 1971
15
University Daily Kansan
Windows Work Even Better Than Doors Sometimes
Marvelous Marvin
By ANN McKINNEY Kansan Staff Writer
At the entry to the bunny there is no traditional bronze plaque but a large, brown-paper covered display board. The sign colors: "Welcome to Marvin Hill, named in honor of James Marvin, Chancellor 1674-1838. Home of" architecture and Urban Design
The sign reflects atmosphere of the rest of the building. Marvin Hall was built in 1908 and is now used for students. Marvin's habitates have
felt free to decorate it as they wanted to.
The walls are a dingy green about one-third of the way up from the floor and a pasty white the rest of the way, but their monotony is broken by the occasional orange door, painted wooden windows, artistic photographs or solutions to math equations.
Its wooden floors, although covered with linoleum along the main traffic paths, sound loud at the slightest pressure. Every room has a fireplace, building and at class-changing times the din increases.
Sometimes a junior can be seen racing through the hallways pushing his dumptron, somehow students who walk in front of him.
The basement of Marvin Hall is a hedge-pod of artifacts. Three-dimensional, cardboard models of cities, apartment buildings clutter the hall. Big, mysterious green crates, reminiscent of the cardboard boxes that little girls find to play house in and a purple ladder with alternate blue and pink accents decorate the basement hall.
The large studio at the east end
Third Floor Is the Graffiti Writer's Paradise . . then back to the drawing board
of the second floor is sunny in the morning. The drafting tables are separated from each other by small masonite, cardboard or fiberboard panels hung from the ceiling, or by lockers with dented doors and brightly painted sides. Wooden panels covered with fiberboard and used to hang notices, project plans and topographic maps.
The students seem to adopt the easy atmosphere of the building. They think nothing of crawling in and out of it, or hoping to be the most convenient area to their work areas. During the winter the occupants of one basement studio keep a jerk of ice on the floor and the snow just outside the window.
Dennis Sherrill, St. Louis, Ma., sophomore, works on his design projects in room 16. He calls it the "Pit" because it is in the basement and isolated from the other design classes. Sherrill has his own thoughts about Marvin Hall.
There's an atmosphere that I kind of like. It's really casual, you know. You can do what you want to -walk in and out of class, or go get a cup of coffee at Strong."
Sherrill is right. There is a special atmosphere around Marvin. It is a product of creative people who have created an environment that reflects themselves.
the adult game
for game adults
3rd Floor Studios House Sophomore Architects .and their discarded models
Kansan Staff Photos by David Henry
"Just Put It in the Hall, Jack. There's No Room in Here."
... especially for projects left over from last semester
Basement Woodworking Shop Is Sunny in the Morning ... and busy late into the night