I’m on my way home from vacation right now, sitting in the Portland airport, using the free wi-fi and enjoying for once the strange crowded solitude of an airport terminal. Spending a week on the road with a toddler was an interesting experience. I’m reminded of why it’s a good idea to have kids when you’re young.
Anyway, here’s all I have right now. It’s a very early photo of the faculty chamber. The light fixtures are ornate and attention grabbing, of course, but they aren’t what caught my eye here.
It’s the windows–or rather, the devices attached to them, which I’m thinking enabled someone on the floor to open them up, maybe with a pole or some such.
This is what it looks like now:
I suppose the advent of air conditioning rendered these clever things obsolete. I don’t know when they were removed but it must be after the decision in the early 1950s to begin cooling the buildings. And I hardly know what to say about the current inoffensive light fixtures. It’s as if they decided to go to the opposite extreme and make them as bland as possible.
Bonus: “Touch it!”