Tag Archives: campus

UW Campus

The cherry blossoms were the reason for us visiting the campus of the University of Washington as I covered in a previous post.  Since we were there and it was a lovely day, we also figured a bit more of the campus was worth a look.  We strolled around for a while and checked out the different styles of building that make up the university.

There is a wide variety of building types.  The oldest buildings are generally pretty nice looking.  Some of the most recent ones are also architecturally interesting.  There was some Art Deco to see and then there is a bleaker phase.  UW is a bit like other campuses I have seen.  There is a phase of concrete and plain brick.  This style was very much of its time but sadly, I don’t find it has stood the test of time too well.  The concrete particularly is harsh with the style having been to avoid making any effort to finish the surface.  They just poured at different times and the joins are left to see.  It probably seemed like a good idea at the time but I don’t care for it.  I’m sure in architecture classes they still discuss its merits but it’s not for me.

New Apple Campus

C59F8742.jpgThe bottom of the peninsula runs in to the San Jose area and it is full of the tech businesses that are dominating the news these days.  The departure from Oakland if you are heading south takes you out to the coast and then back over this part of the world.  If you are sitting on the left side of the plane, you get a good view of the area.  One of the most high profile companies is Apple and they are in the process of building a huge new campus.  This is like a giant spaceship shaped as a circle that has landed in Sunnyvale.  Given how big it is, it isn’t hard to spot from the air.  We might have been high but it was still conspicuous.  Here is the view I got.