Campus uses landscaping to soften a buildings image

  Thursday, June 30, 2016 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Making Grubbs Hall, a massive example of 1960s-era modernist architecture on the Pittsburg State University campus, a more friendly and attractive place is no small task. But Cate Walker and the Pitt State grounds crews she directs are making that happen this summer.

At the end of the spring semester, workers removed much of the concrete that surrounded the building’s south and west sides and recently have replaced it with a variety of trees and shrubs. Still to come is a 12-ft. x 24-ft. seating area with an 18-inch high seating wall.

“Grubbs Hall was basically an island in a sea of concrete,” Walker said. “I wanted to make it more inviting for people to spend some time in.”

Walker chose a variety of heat-tolerant plants for the space. Dark green Manhattan euonymus will provide color through the winter while deciduous hypericum will produce bright yellow blossoms in the summer. Yoshino cherry trees will cover themselves with fragrant blossoms in the spring.

“My goal was to create swaths of color and texture,” Walker said. “By creating layers of plants, we make it more attractive from a distance.”

Funding for the project came from the Student Government Association (SGA), which used its Campus Capital Improvement fund to support the Grubbs Hall landscaping project.

Completed in 1967, Grubbs Hall is one of thousands of similar buildings constructed on college campuses across the U.S. as the post-war baby boom pushed enrollments to new highs and colleges and universities scrambled to build residence halls and classrooms for the Baby Boom generation.

Paul Stewart, director of facilities planning at PSU, said he believed most people would characterize Grubbs Hall as modernist, but he was reluctant to call it a good example of modernist architecture.

Some others, like Walker, have been less kind in their description of the building’s architectural style.

Now that the new landscaping is near completion, Grubbs Hall already looks a little brighter and it’s no longer surrounded by a sea of concrete.

“I hope the students enjoy it,” Walker said. “I hope the space becomes an inviting place – a place to sit and linger a while.”