Campus Expansion, Construction

Stoney - you're the man. Those are some great pics.

Didn't have a camera with me, but was on campus a bit ago and the bell tower is now fully up! They had a "Blessing of the Bells" this morning, and by the early afternoon the final two segments were up. It is definitely tall... 107 feet is what I heard, compared to 80-90 feet for Mehling. The cross isn't at the top yet, though.

I like how it was open and you could see all the bells inside. Not sure if it will stay that way once the brick goes up, but as it is now it's pretty cool to see.

(Stoney, don't post the pictures make R54 fly home to come see it in its full glory, shhhhh and don't tell Rochin I suggested that....)

mattywizz wrote:The engineering building looks great! The rest of it looks pretty good too. But to me the engineering building looks the best because it was such an eyesore before.

Seconded. That place was fugly!

The outside looked kind of cool, but the inside...not that great at all. Nothing, though, can compete with the old science building. Swindells opened the year I got to the Bluff, so I was kind of spoiled.

I drove out past Waldschmidt Hall after the game. the bell tower stands at full height (still without the 12" cross)

It looked pretty impressive.

My eye says it's an inch or two out of plumb.

Spoiler:

Rochin54 wrote:Still very stoked about the bell tower - it will add soooomuch character, especially well-placed by the chapel.

Anyone want to snap a few pics if they're on campus??

Isn't the placement kind of the point? Ringing it before mass on Sundays? I always looked at this as kind of an expansion of the chapel...

Here is an update from the UP site.

Thanks for the update. Next let's work on a lighthouse for Wally in the Triangle Park area. Wouldn't that be cool?

athleticjames wrote:Next let's work on a lighthouse for Wally in the Triangle Park area. Wouldn't that be cool?

Very cool idea... you are on to something here...

I thought we were pushing for the Wally tugboat/golf cart thing?



Wasn't a vote already taken?

I want to let Wally have his cake and eat it, too!

Multi-task!

Well he has to have a place to live..... and transportation... and a place to park the USS Pilot Nation....

Here's an article from UP about the recent hoisting of the bells... complete with photo evidence!

http://www.up.edu/shownews.aspx?id=3766

You can also see a little video report here (or so they claim... I didn't want to download Media Player onto my sister's computer):

http://1190kex.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=123543&article=5371632

One interesting little tidbit... it said that the bells will ring out on the hour every hour starting in the fall.

Credit to Coach Reveno's Tweet... the bell tower construction web cam.

It's looking great!

Stonehouse wrote:One interesting little tidbit... it said that the bells will ring out on the hour every hour starting in the fall.

"Play up Portland, Portland play up."

Here is the updated web cam pointed towards the tower. It's looking good, with most of the construction done: LINK.

Ah yes... most of the construction around campus is indeed done. The new dorms already have people moving in... they look terrific, though I haven't been inside yet. I'm not used to seeing such a big building over there though... that will take a bit of adjustment.

Shiley Hall (nee Engingeering Building) looks amazing.

The Commons expansion is nearly done, and I've heard that it's super, super nice. Apparently there is a "Board Room" that has a huge long table and is, from what I was told, "the nicest room on campus". So I'm sure they will do some good wining and dining there.

And the Bell Tower is all done except it still doesn't have the cross on the top. I'm also not totally sure if they are done with the cupola (sp?)... there is some copper showing and I don't know if it's supposed to be like that (it's shiny!) or if they are going to cover it up.

Maybe I'll roll over there with a camera and snap some pics...

The Board Room sounds like a nice place for the 1000-post Social Club. I look forward to chilling in there before games.

I took a quick spin around campus tonight, and WOW all the construction looks great! The bell tower, and the re-vamped Marian Garden and plaza/landscapiing around the base are beautiful.

The tower is also lit up at night, so I grabbed this pic:



Engineering, the new Commons, new dorms... all look spectacular. Our campus is getting all growed up!

I took this before the game tonight. You can see how the top of the bell tower matches the design of the chapel's cupola.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:I took this before the game tonight. You can see how the top of the bell tower matches the design of the chapel's cupola.

Very cool. They must have thought that through before construction. I miss the chapel...