Pg. 92 Q. 2

Columbia is not a traditional campus so its ideologies are different. In a formal university setting there is usually a an outdoor atrium with a statue or fountain that is dedicated or is a memorial to some founder or important person. Columbia doesn't really have a central area because it is in an urban setting. It has to share the downtown area with so many other buildings. The architecture is not Columbia's but it has existed for a lot longer, however, Columbia has added their concepts in design for common sense purposes and for aesthetic reasons. The building at 624 S. Michigan has a black and blue sign with the logo to let students know that they are at the right place but above that you see the actual name of what was once there. Internally the designers have done the most with architecture, well, interior design, because that is where the students spend most of their time. They have three reappearing colors: lime green, periwinkle, and orange. Those colors can be seen almost anywhere. The furniture is modern, chic, and hip to set a standard for the school and a sort of personality.
The space of the classroom is so so that the students are all arranged in their seats to be able to see and hear the instructor. There are four walls to make it a room and a ceiling with fluorescent light strips so that no one has to struggle to see. There is a lock on the door to either ward off intruders or late students, hah. There is also personal space so that the students are not too close to each other to be able to feel uncomfortable. That is very important in the West: personal space. It's very unlikely that Westerners would ever have to be too close to others. The exceptions of course are public transit and of course, uncomfortable situations.
There are windows with blinds so that students are not distracted and there is a big white erase board but never any working markers so that is not very practical. The door to the classroom is tall and wide enough to let everyone in with ease, the seats are made for grown bodies, the tables high enough to accommodate the chairs.
The building has heating, cooling, and carpets so that occupants can wipe off their feet thereby preventing slipping accidents. It has a fire alarm system, elevators that go to even and odd floors, stairwells that only let you out at certain floors, and benches or chairs when you get off of some elevators so that early students can sit down and study. The building runs on a tight schedule. The library and bookstore within the building open and close at certain times. The library stays open pretty late for working students, the bookstore is open during class times so that students can get a snack, a pen, or a notebook. Students' classes do not overlap and are not too short. There are blocks of classes and blocks of break time. Morning classes and night classes for everyone's needs.
The common sense of space shows us that the way of the world should work in an orderly fashion. There should really be no chaos and everyone should be patient and move along in the most reasonable way in the spaces allotted to them. For most of us, everything is designed for a human being's disposal. Some things are designed for people with disabilities but people without are also able to use such things, i.e., elevators -- common sense tells us though, that when someone with a disability needs to use an elevator that we should use an alternate way because it will make it easier for both parties. So, since most "things" are designed with the human form and mind, "things" are impossibly natural to us and it's almost unnatural to sit down and question why. How else should "things" be?