Rebargroup: Barbara Sturdevant

The site I looked at is Academic Plaza. It is a large open area of campus with lots of green space, both grass and trees-meaning shading! The pictures were taken in the rain, and Friday before Spring Break, so it is not an accurate account of how the plaza is normally used, due to the lack of people on campus today. It is a central part of campus and fairly heavily traveled. When the weather permits, this is a place people can always be found just hanging out. People lay in the grass and study, nap or just relax, sit on some of the benches here and there, or even set up their own hammocks between the trees. There is also a "sport" called slack-lining that takes place here most days. It's pretty entertaining if you have never seen people doing it. It is a good place to improve an already used plaza with possibly more creative seating options, potentially as an alternative to just plopping down in the grass, as others have mentioned.

Similar to that site in its use is the lawn/knoll by Langford. I think the smaller, more disconnected spots from the main field would be interesting. They are in a high traffic area and used heavily.

One more place to take into account that we did not discuss is an area between Herrington and the RPTS building (Francis Hall) near Chem. fountain. I had not even thought of this location but noticed it on my way to photograph Academic Plaza. It would be an interesting place to work with because it is heavily traveled and somewhat central, but has nothing inviting the user to actually use it, beside for just to walk through. It has some green space, and some trees also, so it could provide for some interesting installations.