I know they are building a new engineering building, so I wonder if that means they will be tearing down Estabrook Hall that's on the east side of the stadium? That's a really old building. Actually, I like the old buildings as long as they can be renovated and used. Ayres Hall, on the hill, is almost completed and I think will be ready by January. It looks really nice.
What you're seeing is something a lot of people have realized for a while. The original campus master plan called for the renovation of Eastabrook, but that proved unworkable because of structural problems. That's the reason they raised the funds to go ahead with a brand new building (Tickle).
The Master Plan called for renovating existing buildings and then building around the others where space is available. However, many of those plans have been modified over the past 8-10 years. The old music building is currently on the chopping block to make way for the new Natalie L. Haslam (surprise) Music Center. Instead of improving the Health Center, they went ahead with a new building.
Stokley, provided the AD can get the money, is another building scheduled for demolition -- and I can't imagine Eastabrook lasting much longer. The Student Center, at least right now if I'm not mistaken, is also gonna be leveled to build a brand new one.
The University is realizing that in order to attract the best students and athletes, they're gonna have to build the best facilities all around. The new business building is as nice as they come, the Burchfiel Geography Building, while simple and not exactly "brand new," is a great building. The architecture of Ayres rivals any older or "traditional" college building I've seen. (Believe me, I've seen a lot.) The stone archways at the law building -- and the entire complex itself -- is a beautiful area on Cumberland.
I always found it funny that the ugliest building on campus is the architecture building and an engineering building has structural deficiencies. If you really look around campus, you'll see that UT was built for space at the cheapest price possible (see every residence hall for reference), which is understandable when your state doesn't have billions to throw around.
The University has been conducting a private fundraising campaign in much the same fashion as the athletic department has, and it's starting to show. Hopefully they'll start to build "on" instead of build "around" and try to make UT one of the nicest campuses in the U.S. Surely someone didn't look at the plans for the nursing building years ago and say, "Oh yeah, this is a good idea."