Actually, the John C. Hodges library was there before 1980. It was smaller then. Much smaller. But they either razed the old one or cobbled together annexes over it. And just from how mammoth the thing is, I believe it was quite a bit of the latter. But the old one was just a library. It didn't have much in the way of conference rooms, socializing areas or a Starbucks. You went in, got whatever books you needed, and headed back to the dorm to study.
But if you get on google maps, have a look at the layout of the Hill. The beauty and functionality of those old buildings. Those no longer with us who designed landscaped, and built those buildings knew what they were doing. To me, that is UT. That is the part of campus I hope visitors walk through. Everytime I see that library, it looks almost as ugly as pictures from New York right after 9/11.
I hope as the campus evolves in the future, they find a way to incorporate the old style aesthetics of the Hill across campus while still making the buildings functional and adaptable for future technology. Instead of creating ugly monstrosities.
