a green block of grass at the campus

The Vienna University of Economics and Business opens its new campus in eleven days. Some well-known architects designed the new buildings which the university is very proud of. Yes, many people need alcohol for being creative and I am sure some architects need it too, but sometimes, when blood alcohol level is back at 0‰, everyone should rethink its work and check, if some parts could be done better. ;-)

Ok, let’s be serious. I like the new campus, its architecture is worth seeing and it’s great that everything is in one place (if you have been to Vienna University of Technology you know what I mean). But I think some parts are – let’s say – unpractical; they look great for now but in some weeks, when thousands of students walk by every day, they won’t look good anymore. One of those things are these green grass-blocks. I’m sure, students will use them for learning or relaxing between their lectures, they will sit down and the grass will disappear very fast.

One more thing is the red facade of the building. It looks nice but it is metal, rusted metal. I am sure in some years the whole ground around this building will be red as well and as you can see on the floor, it already started to stain. Maybe this is intended, but I guess not.

In another building, everything is skewed. The pillars, the windows, even the enclosures for the internet terminals are skewed, and so are the walls beside the stairs. While this is not a problem on the right side, I am sure many people will trip over the left side. They will at least mess it up.

So, if you want to see great exceptional architecture, you should take a walk through the new campus but if these buildings are good for what they have been built for… we will see it in the next few months and years.