Ray B. West undergoes face lift
The Ray B. West building underwent some inexpensive renovations this summer, including a new paint job, artwork, and furniture pieces to brighten up the building.
Jeannie Thomas, head of the English department, said the building was dark and dreary, and it hadn’t been changed in a while.
Thomas said in order to protect the historical parts of the building, the original woodwork was preserved. Aggie Blue was also incorporated into the color scheme.
The Ray B. West building has served many functions on campus since its beginnings in 1918. According to “USU Historical Buildings,” the United States involvement in World War I introduced an “increased need for barracks and military training facilities.”
Utah State was able to get money from the state to build what is now the Ray B. West building, but what was then the “Mess Hall and Barracks No. 1.” The building was turned over to the college for classroom and laboratory use in 1920.
The building was dedicated and re-named on Feb. 5, 1986 in honor of Ray B. West, an engineer, teacher and administrator from 1912-1936. In its long history, the building has housed engineering students and faculty and the education department, and is currently home to the English department.
During the 2010 summer semester, faculty, students and designers teamed up to give the Ray B. West building a face lift.
“I had done a bit of an administrator stint in interior design, so I knew the faculty. I asked them if there was any cheap way to perk up the building,” Thomas said.
Darrin Brooks and Susan Tibbitts from Utah State’s interior design department took on the project.
Students and visitors will have an easier time locating classrooms, bathrooms, and other parts of the building thanks to the “wayfinding.” Located at the top of every stairwell are navigational arrows and simple directions to various parts of the building. The designers used vinyl lettering similar to what you would see in a museum or art gallery.
English professor John McLaughlin, whose office is located at the top of the main stairs, said that he wished every floor indicated where the restrooms were, in order to avoid the most common question directed at him. The Ray B. West is outfitted with only one set of restrooms, located on the second, or yellow, floor.
The designers also used the vinyl letters to put up quotes throughout the building.
Thomas said that teachers, undergraduate and graduate students had a say in which quotes were selected.
“We tried to get a diverse representation of quotes; you can see some people’s research interests,” she said.
The English department lost a professor and former Utah poet laureate, Ken Brewer, to cancer a few years ago. Now he can be remembered and honored through his quote, “Fences never kept the moon out of the rye,” which adorns the wall on the second floor. Thomas said that they also have a quote from local product and nationally celebrated poet May Swenson.
One student told Thomas they walked into the English building, saw one quote, and ended up reading every quote in the building.
“We also, thanks to the good work of Print Gallery, put up some modern artwork … to show that we are dynamic and more educational, and to inspire people,” Thomas said.
Three Andy Warhol prints are displayed in the study lounge, which no longer has couches, but a table and chairs available for students to study. Some students miss the couches, but the overall feeling toward the upgrades are positive.
“I think it’s nice … a vast improvement of what they had before,” said Pamela Martin, librarian and frequent visitor to the Ray B. West building.
To preserve the relationship between the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Caine College of the Arts, the English department will be starting a rotating display of student artwork in the writing center.
The writing center, located on the first floor or basement, greatly benefited from the upgrades as well. Star Coulbrooke, director of the writing center, said they received new carpet and chairs. “We have had hand-me-downs and cast-offs for as long as the writing center has been around. This [remodel] has really benefited our tutors’ spirits,” Coulbrooke said.
Kevin Larsen, an English major and writing center supervisor said the department wanted to make the writing center look more “professional and inviting for students.” He said he is pleased they had the money and incentive to do it.
“Although, I don’t know how I personally feel about the pink,” Larsen said.
“It’s kind of ‘kindergarten-y’.”
Coulbrooke is happy that “someone is finally realizing the value of color.”
“The first thing I thought of when I saw the color is that students are going to be able to think. As soon as people walk in, things aren’t all the same dull, drab, grayish white, with junky stuff. It’s new; it’s a burst of intelligence that has happened to Ray B. West,” she said.
“Woah, that is not what I expected,” said junior Kamilla Okey.
Compared to the outside, she expected the inside of the building “to be more run down, more blah.” Instead, the inside walls are freshly painted: yellow, blue, lime green, orange and chinaberry.
– ashley.cutler@aggiemail.usu.edu