Renovation

Ball State University's Teachers College is going to get its insides pulled out and rebuilt over the next two years. Yep, out go the bad guts, in come the good guts. And that building really needs good guts.

First, a little history about why this is necessary.

Ball State University started its existence as a teachers college, or normal school. Indeed, it was several normal schools during the first two decades of the twentieth century, before the local industrialists, the Ball family, bought out the campus and gave it to the State. It was made a satellite campus of Indiana State University (ISU), until growth in student enrollment and variety of subjects allowed the campus to break away from ISU in the early 1960's and to become a university in 1965. In time, as other schools within the university — business, communications, architecture and fine arts — grew, the training of teachers became no longer the main purpose of the University.

But in the 1950's and 1960's, teacher training was still the main goal, so it was decided to build a big honking building along McKinley Avenue to house all this teacher training. It was to have ten stories, two wings and a central section. It was built in the style of the time: Metal and poured concrete with glass and brick facade on the outside; and with brick and cinderblock walls, metal stairs, wood panels and vinyl floors on the inside. With no true ornamentation of any kind. In other words, what was then called internationalist but which now deserves the name retro ugly. It was the type of crappy post-World War II architectural style that told the public to go away and ◊◊◊◊ themselves and leave their betters alone to run things.

But, like a certain tower builder, the University's board of trustees did not count the cost. When, as a result, the money became tight, it was decided to complete the south half of the building in 1968, hoping in time to complete the north half. That time never came; and in the 1980's the open end of the building was sealed with a blank wall. Now the building is even uglier.

Apart from that north end scar, the building has not been worked on in any serious way for decades. The results are now too obvious to ignore. The mechanical and electrical systems are breaking down, as proved by the elevators, which are said to make strange noises and even trap people from time to time. Someone even sued the University after being trapped in a Teachers College elevator.

So Ball State is going to spend US$13 million to renovate the inside of the Teachers College. Hopefully, when it is all done, the retro ugly will go away on the inside — we will still be stuck with it on the outside — and the students and faculty will be happy.