What's so bad about Morse and Stiles?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
21

<p>There’s this “Emperor’s New Clothes” thing in modern architecture. We’re supposed to revere the Seagram Building on Park Avenue because Mies van der Rohe designed it, and it has some miniscule, careful details and use of bronze. Never mind that it’s just a gargantuan black box, totally disruptive of the streetscape, and just horrifically insensitive on an urban scale. (This is harder to appreciate now that its misbegotten progeny populates the area and, in fact, most major downtowns.)</p>

<p>My point, and I do have one (sort of) is that Morse and Stiles were designed by another legend of modern architecture, Eero Saarinen, who actually did some cool stuff like the St.Louis Arch, TWA Terminal at JFK, and even Ingalls Rink. So it was always politically incorrect to admit that Morse & Stiles formed an incredibly harsh, unforgiving aesthetic environment. Their supposed resemblance to an Italian hill town is what I mean with my first phrase above. I’m glad the renovations are helping because I’d tear the things down, personally…</p>

22

<p>Wow, thanks. I had no idea that some colleges assigned bedrooms within suites on the Old Campus as far back as almost my time. Seems nuts to me. My wife was in Welch as a freshman in Saybrook, and they certainly didn’t have assigned bedrooms then. But I can see where some college deans might have decided to do that.</p>

<p>It’s a little unfair to compared Saarinen to Mies and his boxes. (Mies was responsible for some atrocious dorms at Harvard Law School, by the way.) Morse and Stiles were pretty laudable attempts to create residential colleges that were both of their time and classic, as opposed to doing more fake Gothic. I never thought the formed “an incredibly harsh, unforgiving aesthetic environment”; in fact I rather admired the way Saarinen created the kind of irregularity that makes the other colleges special. </p>

<p>You want harsh and unforgiving? Go to Beinecke, with or without the Noguchi sculpture garden. And it’s magnificent. Harsh and unforgiving can be classic, too. But that’s not Morse or Stiles.</p>

23

<p>I always thought Morse and Stiles were yummy-looking. But I like peanut brittle.</p>

24

<p>Morse & Stiles are meant to evoke an Italian hill town, which they do quite well, particularly in the passageway between them. They balance plain shapes with rich stone and soft brown colors that change in the rain and sun. The entrance ways are more prairie style, using Wright’s idea that you pass through a lowered doorway into a large space. You see this very clearly in the entranceways to the dining halls; you can see into the large spaces from outside but you pass into them through a low ceilinged atrium.</p>

25

<p>Ooops, sorry. HLS dorms were not Mies’ fault. Walter Gropius. Same difference, practically, except van der Rohe never married Alma Mahler, so Tom Lehrer doesn’t sing about him.</p>

26

<p>It’s not the same difference to me – I spent the first 6 years of my professional life working in two different Mies buildings (the IBM Plaza and the Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago). Although the west side of both buildings gets too hot on summer afternoons, I found the interiors spacious, exhilarating, full of light, with lots of space for human interaction. Those are descriptors I would never use for the cement rat cage that is the Gropius dorms at HLS.</p>

27

<p>Those Gropius dorms at HLS really are the pits.</p>

28

<p>I believe Ezra Stiles was designed to evoke the feel of San Gimignano in the Tuscan hills. </p>

<p>While such a concept might at first awaken a sense of the romantic in us, it must be said that the architecture of San Gimignano’s day, being pre-gothic (and borne of the Dark Ages for christsake) could hardly be thought of as attractive for its near total lack of embellishment and decor. My god, can you imagine living in that place?! Rather depressing, I should think.</p>

<p>One has to wonder if the incessant and bloody feuding that the leading families engaged in were in any way due to the very real drabness of the surroundings. On seeing the town it is clear that the gothic style that followed must have been an enormously welcome relief as a number of the buildings and houses added gothic touches here and there.</p>

<p>When Ezra Stiles is renovated perhaps it should follow suit…</p>

29

<p>JHS, I liked the fact that bedrooms in Lawrance Hall were pre-assigned; that way we avoided starting off our relationship with our roommates with either voiced arguments or quiet resentments. There were six of us (each in a single), and we shared a common room and a bathroom. Two of the singles were decidedly larger, and it seemed good & fair that they were assigned randomly in advance. No one could be thought “greedy” or “grabby” for securing the larger ones, and no one felt gypped for landing in a smaller one. </p>

<p>Not that most of us would’ve cared… true… but it still eliminated a potential source of friction, and it was good not to have to worry about negotiating space when we had just arrived on campus and were meeting our roommates for the first time. So it doesn’t seem nuts to me that they assign bedrooms, especially when there is a disparity in size.</p>

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<p>I have said this before in another thread about the YDN article about the residential colleges ([Yale</a> Daily News - One Yale, a dozen ways](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/04/20/one-yale-dozen-ways/]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/04/20/one-yale-dozen-ways/)), but I cannot emphasize this enough so I’m going to say it again, word-for-word. I should emphasize that this is a defense of Stiles more than Morse, but only because I’m in Stiles:</p>

<p>"As a current student in Ezra Stiles, I have to admit I’m a little peeved by the “data” the YDN is presenting to prefrosh during Bulldog Days. Can we please reexamine the statistics cited in the article in question?</p>

<p>Let’s look at the areas in which Stiles ranked poorly:</p>

<ol>
<li>Courtyard: data invalid,* courtyard is being renovated next year.</li>
<li>Buttery: data invalid, buttery is being renovated next year.</li>
<li>Housing: data invalid, housing is being renovated next year.</li>
<li>Facilities/Gym: recognize a trend yet? STILES FACILITIES ARE BEING RENOVATED NEXT YEAR.</li>
</ol>

<p>*by “invalid” I mean “really doesn’t matter because by the time the prefrosh reading this article get here as actual students these things will be different, and also every other college has recently been (or is in the process of being) renovated”</p>

<p>How about the areas in which Stiles ranked well:</p>

<ol>
<li>Fellow Students: your college is (more or less) randomly assigned. If Stiles ranked well for fellow students, clearly we are doing something right.</li>
<li>Events: considering that Stiles and Morse have the least amount of money of all of the colleges, Stiles has some pretty sweet events, including:</li>
</ol>

<p>a. Stiles Petting Zoo: [Courtyard</a> becomes barnyard 06520](<a href=“http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/blog/?p=3652]Courtyard”>http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/blog/?p=3652)
b. Medieval (K)night: [Stiles</a> Medieval (K)Night. GO MOOSE!](<a href=“http://www.stilesmedievalknight.com/]Stiles”>http://www.stilesmedievalknight.com/)
c. Stiles day</p>

<ol>
<li>College Master: ranked number 1!!!</li>
<li>College Spirit: top 3</li>
</ol>

<p>Point is, this survey is unscientific and completely unrepresentative of the relative awesomeness of the various colleges. The parts of Stiles that suck will be gone by the time the majority of CC readers get here, while the parts that are awesome will remain constant (or get awesomer)."</p>

<p>To conclude: people who tell you to avoid Morse and Stiles are almost universally prefrosh who frankly (no offense, prefrosh) have no idea what they are talking about. Ask just about anyone on campus which college they think has the most fun people and events and the most spirit and pride in their college, and they will almost all answer that Stiles is second only to their own college. </p>

<p>/end rant</p>

31

<p>And Morse has the lipstick. </p>

<p>The original design, if I remember correctly, was for it to inflate and deflate.</p>

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<p>you tell 'em, elsewhen! I’m sure my son would agree with you:)</p>

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<p>Fun discussion, and I hope M&S residents weren’t unduly offended!</p>

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<p>I’m sort of confused by this thread title, as I’ve heard Morse College is the best College.</p>