Section A·Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, February 25, 1998
Spacious rooms prove popular
Recent renovations to Templin Hall are part of a nationwide trend in residence halls to offer students more space and more privacy. Templin rooms are larger than the old rooms and have a private bathroom in each room. Students pay several hundred dollars more for the revamped rooms. Photo by Lizz Weber/KANSAN
Students pay price to live in updated residence halls
By Carl Kaminski
ckaminski at kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Students who are tired of traditional residence hall living are leaving the cramped rooms and the lack of privacy and opting for more expensive alternatives.
The recent renovation of Templin Hall and the upcoming plans to revamp Lewis Hall are part of a trend toward offering students more room and privacy, said Ken Stoner, director of student housing. He said many students were willing to pay extra for more space and private bathrooms.
"Ken is really on top of this nationally," said Steve Clark of Evans Gould Associates, the architecture firm that renovated Templin and Lewis halls. The firm has worked on residence halls across the country.
Clark said that he has seen a nationwide trend moving away from the traditional residence hall room.
Luke Brodine, Overland Park freshman, left the smaller traditional rooms of Pearson Scholarship Hall and moved into Templin Hall's suites. He said the difference was well worth the extra money.
but living on campus," he said.
"It's a lot like living off campus
Brodine said he liked the privacy of having his own bathroom and with the extra space he hardly ever has to leave his room.
"What two guys are sharing in Pearson is our living room." he said. "We have everything we need. You don't have to dread going back to your room."
The only drawback of moving
Student often complain of lack of space in current residence hall rooms. Renovations in Lewis Hall will begin in May. The work will be similar to that of the recently renovated Templin Hall. Photo by Lizz Weber/KANSAN
into Templin was the lack of camaraderie. Brodine said.
"You only get to know the people across from you well if they leave their door open," he said. "I don't know half the guys on my floor."
Fred McEhlenie, associate director of student housing, said the University will be adapting to the changing needs of students as it continues to renovate the residence halls.
"I do not believe that we would just redo them as they are," McElenie said.
The KU is not the only university changing to fit the new demands of its students.
Kirsten Kennedy, associate director of residence life at the University of Missouri, said that she had noticed the same trend.
She said Missouri planned to renovate its residence halls and most likely would try to create more space and privacy for students.
"We will probably make an effort to take down the density in the buildings," she said.
She said the buildings, designed to pack in as many students as possible as the baby boom generation entered college.
"What two guys were sharing in Pearson is our living room. We have everything we need. You don't have to dread going back to your room."
Luke Brodine
Overland Park freshman
did not meet the needs of today's students.
Many of today's generation of college students had their own room while growing up and have found it harder to make the transition to living in a smaller room with a roommate, she said.
Stoner said that despite the rising popularity of more comfortable and expensive rooms, the University would continue to offer less expensive traditional residence hall rooms.
"It's not so much that everything has changed," he said. "We will just offer more choices."
Some students still want cheaper places to live and appreciate the community atmosphere many halls have to offer, he said.
Lewis Hall nearing transformation
Women's residence scheduled to begin renovations in May
By Carl Kaminski
kaminski@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Bids opened last week for the Lewis Hall renovation project and so far, the University likes what it is hearing.
"Personally, I couldn't be more pleased," said Ken Stoner, director of student housing.
Stoner was happy because two companies bid lower than the projected cost of $5 million.
Stoner said that the lowest bid appeared to come from RMT Construction of Kansas City. RMT has worked with the University on the Watkins Memorial Health Center expansion and the Crimson Cafe in the Burge
Union. RMT also has worked on the exterior of Corbin Hall.
Stoner said that the contract had to be awarded within 30 days. However, he said that because the bids were better than expected, he thought that the contract would be awarded before the week ended.
The renovation will transform Lewis' traditional residence hall rooms into suites and will modernize the building to meet safety and mechanical building codes. The renovation is similar to the work done to Templin Hall last year.
The cost for a Templin room ranges from $4,700 to $4,860, while the cost for other residence halls ranges from $3,736 to $4,644, Stoner said.
The cost of living at Lewis will increase as well, Stoner said. He said Lewis would cost as much to live in as Templin.
"Personally, I couldn't be more pleased."
Ken Stoner
Director of Student Housing
Stoner said that Gould Evans Associates, the architectural firm that designed the renovations, used computer-created three-dimensional models to help provide students with the plans they wanted.
To make up for the lack of housing space, the University will offer fewer single rooms, Stoner said. Single rooms will be reserved mainly for returning students, he said.
"It's really slick stuff," he said. The renovation should begin in May. Lewis will reopen for Fall 1999 semester.
Fred McElhenie, associate director of student housing. He
said that the number of students wanting to live in single rooms had increased over the past few years.
"That gives an indication of people's desire to have more space and privacy." McElheneie said.
He said that the University would have to try to meet those needs as it renovated its residence halls.
Stoner said that the University planned to renovate all of the residence halls during the next 10 years.
The next hall slated to be renovated is Ellsworth Hall, he said. Ellsworth will be shut down after the Spring 2000 semester and will reopen for the Fall 2001 semester.
Stoner said he did not believe that all of the residence halls would be converted into suites such as Lewis and Templin.
"I think there will always be a market for the traditional residence hall," he said.
Artists address race power in exhibition at Spencer Museum
By Sarah Hale Special to the Kansan
A display in the Spencer Museum of Art celebrates African-American History month by depicting the issues of race and power in two historic time periods.
Seven works of art by two artists are on display to illustrate aspects of race during the post-Civil War and post-Vietnam War eras. Pieces by artists Kara Walker and Faith Ringgold on display include paper cutouts, lithographs and a quilt.
cutouts, the Walker's cutouts and four lithograph prints portrait a time shortly after the Civil War. Her lithographs address controversial images of work, childbirth and power among white, African-American, male, female, rich and poor people.
Two of Walker's cutouts are represented in the display, including a five-part series called "A Means to an End ... A Shadow Drama in Five Acts." This series begins with a Caucasian child breast-feeding from an African-American woman and ends with a Caucasian slave master strangling an African-American girl, attempting to challenge the power issue of the time period.
"She's pulling in the artistic and literary art forms, like in the cutouts. It seems like she has a historical reality in that she shows the unrealness of the emotions," said
David Quick, a Wichita artist visiting the museum.
"She has said herself. If you are angry when you see her stuff then that is a valid response. Everybody reacts a little bit differently," Kletchka said.
Dana Kletchka, Kofloff curatorial assistant in education for the museum, said the images in Walker's pieces also could cause an unsetting viewer response.
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Faith Ringgold's piece in the museum display, her 1985 "Flag Story Quilt" describes a story about an African-American Vietnam veteran who is wrongly accused of rape. This display opened the first week of February and will continue through Saturday.
The quilt consists of 24 tie-dye squares and 17 white squares. The tie-dye squares line up to form the red stripes in the American flag, while the white squares with words on them represent the white stripes. The stars are represented by 50 white heads with different colored eyes.
I've loved Ringgold for years and the way that she calls on traditional crafts — quilting and tie-dye." Quick said.
Display shows evolution of lithograph technique
By Sarah Hale
Special to the Kansan
Lithography, an art technique that uses a surface printing process, now is on display at the Spencer Museum of Art and shows the difference in styles from the early 1800s to the present.
The 46 lithographs in the exhibit were selected from more than 10,000 in the museum archives. To celebrate lithography's bicentennial, the pieces were chosen as examples of assorted techniques from the past 200 years. The exhibit, which opened Jan. 10, continues until Sunday.
Modern techniques, such as overlying words, photos and body parts, also are represented in the exhibit.
One of the oldest pieces in the exhibit, dating to 1824, is considered one of the most distinct, said Edward Barr, curatorial intern in prints and drawings.
"The Bonington is one of the most remarkable pieces. He has an expertise with the hardness of the crayons and the texture of the stone. You don't realize this unless you get really close," Goddard said. "This image will really pull you in."
Barr, who arranged the exhibit, said that most people thought of posters when they heard the word lithograph. He said that people did not know that
Lithographer Richard Parkes Bonington designed his "Tour du Gros Horlage, Evreux," or "Large Clock Tower, Evreux," by using limestone's grainy texture to accentuate irregular surfaces around the clock tower.
Stephen Goddard, curator of prints and drawings, said Bonington created a unique view of the atmosphere by utilizing crayons with different hardness to form the clouds and shadows.
"Everybody can't afford a painting, maybe they can have a lithograph. It's like the next best thing."
Edward Barr
Curatorial intern in prints and drawing
lithography was actually a long process.
Lithography is a printmaking technique which uses the repelling of oil and water. The image is drawn with a grease crayon on Bavarian limestone or a grained plate.
The surface then is chemically treated and dampened so that ink will stick to the image drawn with the grease crayon. Finally, a piece of paper is laid on the image and a special press is run over it.
Cimata Kitz, professor of lithography, said this process had a large impact on society because it led to the first printing presses. Lithography allowed for newspapers and magazines to be printed quickly, and it also was used to provide illustrations, caricatures and posters. By 1830, examples of lithography were popular art forms in society.
"Everybody can't afford a painting, maybe they can have a lithograph. It's like the next best thing," Barr said. "It's still a piece of fine art, visually striking and pure."
Barr's offered some advice for looking at lithography prints.
"You need to look closely at prints. With paintings you're trained to look from six feet away or further if the security guard keeps walking by." Barr said. "With prints, you can't do that. You need to get up close and study the detail."
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