From high-profile high-rises to small-scale enhancements, Saint Louis University’s oasis in Midtown is growing.
Revisions to the spaces on SLU’s campus are commonplace and often celebrated. Construction updates regularly pepper the monthly e-mail messages from the Rev. Lawrence Biondi, S.J. Billboards across the city advertise the Doisy Research Building and Chaifetz Arena, and the Law School is also to be refurbished.
Soon, SLU’s fixation with space will extend to the Busch Student Center. In a series of updates, discussed at the latest Student Government Association meeting, the BSC will undergo some office-shuffling.
Starting this fall, the Department of Student Life will move into the previously unoccupied BSC 319. Commuters will vacate their third-floor suite for the glass-encased quiet of the former silent study lounge on the second floor.
The space those two groups leave behind will be transformed into a new resource-a Student Success Center, which will assist students in goal-setting and career-searching. Students may also see new décor, improved technology and augmented dining options and hours, starting this semester.
To determine what students will use, those rearranging SLU’s spaces must understand what students want. We want aesthetically pleasing study spaces with drawing boards and Internet jacks. We want comfortable seating to dream, scheme and chat upon. We want resources and information about life after college. We still don’t know what will happen to the former home of FedEx and Kinko’s. Still, planned BSC adaptations accommodate these concerns.
These proposed changes are promising. So why stop at the sliding doors of the BSC? Innovative adaptation of space should be extended to the rest of campus, using the BSC as an example.
We needed a space for the new Student Success Center, so we rearranged floor-plans and found it. We wanted a 24-hour study location, and-though it will only stay open until 10 p.m.-Grand Market is inching toward that goal.
Why not alleviate other crowded campus destinations? The library runneth over with media and students, which qualifies it for an addition of few thousand square feet. And how about rooms to practice instruments, play chess or paint? That oft-suggested, all-hours diner wouldn’t hurt, either.
Not only will the BSC make new spaces and unburden crowded ones, but it will make use of underutilized locales, as well. BSC Suite 319, empty for years, will finally be put to good use. The lawn below the second-floor balcony may even be converted into a deck for social activities. Why not adapt the DeMattias Lounge for a similar purpose? With its giant TV and ornate furnishings, it could become a second hub for student activity for the students of the lower quad. The same goes for the lobby of Griesedieck Hall. And, now that the arena is nearly open, something creative must be done with the West Pine Gym.
The acquisition, management and development of property is this administration’s legacy. As the physical campus expands, the SLU community has more space to grow. If that space is allocated well, students, faculty and staff can build a human community to fill the physical stage set for it.
