Yeah you, you Frisc me all night long.
Showing posts with label Floor Four. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Floor Four. Show all posts
Tuesday, 11:01 pm
What not to do in a Quiet Center study room:
The passive-aggressive "please" is a nice touch.
Tuesday, 10:30 pm
A public service announcement to readers: On no floor of the SciLi are the classrooms soundproof. I am next door, and I hear everything.
And it gets worse: Hey fifth floor: down here in the Quiet Center we know all about the calamities you faced today in housing lottery. We may wonder what would happen if walls could talk, but one thing's for sure — the vents do.
Wednesday, 10:11 am
This picture shall go captionless, because there are just too many things to be said about it. Interpret at your will.
Sunday, 9:01 pm
In an ironic twist, built perfectly for the SciLi, the beeping noise of the elevator is loudest in the Quiet Center. Though it's probably because the acoustics of the wide open room lend themselves to echo, it would almost make sense if it were intentional.
Guest Thoughts From The Frisc
By Ian Ratner
When entering the Frisc, I am first confronted with a typical academic lobby, complete with stark decor, a kitchen-like snack store (a liberal food outlet for a liberal arts education), and some seating areas. But who cares about this because there is also a security check point. Yes! Guards put on duty specifically to keep people like me out! Fortunately, Emmy has already outfitted me with my own false identification, so I was able to breeze through. Well, I wasn't able to swipe Jessica's I.D. through the first time, but that's mostly because anything that resembles a metro card swipe stresses me out.
Next, Emmy whisks me into a metallic elevator after nearly walking into one of the other elevator's fast-moving doors. THOUGHT #1: If Hermione Granger is to Brown Student, then Frisc Elevators is to Death Eaters. The elevator eventually rises to the 14th floor or something, also known as the highest point in Providence. THOUGHT #2: I imagine the highest student in Providence smokes a joint, and then sits cross-legged on the 14th floor of the Frisc.
After disturbing some of the highest students in Providence, we make our way down to what's called the "Quiet Floor." No, not because the floor absorbs all sounds, and is thus a "quiet" floor, but because you literally are not allowed to speak on this floor. This also means you cannot accidentally have your "Bad Romance" ringtone go off, which is ostensibly tolerated on other floors. Cough, cough.
So after disturbing some of the "Quiet Floor" patrons, we head to Emmy's lair: the basement! On the way there, the elevator door smacks some young gentleman in the face. THOUGHT #3: SRSLY, these elevators will EAT you. We, however, make it to the basement unscathed.
The basement is a sassy mixture of 70s disco decor, lawn chairs, space-age disco decor, girls sitting provocatively, Mac products, snoring students, and more. It goes without saying, but this place is heavenly. While here, we tried out all sorts of study nooks, including the aforementioned lawn chairs, and then a sexy group study room that was really meant for groups of three or more students. THOUGHT #4: Charlie Sheen would totally hog one of these study rooms to himself.
But thoughts #1-4 are really my way of dancing around the main issue: Can I do work in the Frisc? Yes! Yes I can! During the one or two hours I spent in the Frisc, I was able to be pretty damn productive! And that's acknowledging the fact that Emmy and I had to switch locations because the lawn chairs were literally located on the sun. To the Frisc, its patrons, its sassy decor, and the random white guy after whom it was named, way to go! A+
Wednesday, 5:30 pm
It's after 5 pm. Do you know where your kids are?
Answer: They're in the SciLi.
The basement is bumpin'. We're talking, multiple people at every table, no available computers, noise exceeding decibel "suggestions," at least one printer jammed.
The Science Center is full of advisers, review sessions and weird snack food.
And even up here in the "Quiet Center," it's packed. But in a shocking turn of events, it is actually quiet. Maybe painting the walls purple and hanging cutesy signs about silence is all it takes to remind people that we are actually in a library. Well, that or the butterfly-shaped structure in the center of the room. Winged insects must be approached carefully and quietly.
So what's to blame? A short week means five day of homework condensed, perhaps. The start of midterms is also upon us. And finally, it's "warm" enough to stomach walking here, not to mention the newly de-iced sidewalks. (Falling with a backpack is both painful and awkward, and makes getting up difficult.) Or maybe everyone's just trying to get it in before the clock strikes 9 pm. After all, it's Wednesday, and though we no longer know what exactly that means, it must mean something…
Sunday, 6:14 pm
Once upon a time, the fourth floor of the Sciences Library contained rows and rows of books, as libraries often do. Then, it underwent a transformation — no books, fluorescent lighting, vast open spaces with no furniture. Basically, it looked like an airport hangar. And then it closed.
But now, it's back, and there's a new, bold vision:
Gone are the days when a library can just be expected to provide quiet. Now it must be designated. And this new fourth floor is going to welcome silence in style.
The furniture is curvy and cushy, following the model set in the floors below. The large tables resemble those of the Science Center, though the method for cordoning them off from each other is … unique. A large butterfly-like structure occupies the center of the room — which is still vast and open. New study rooms occupy the left-hand wall though.
Perhaps the most noticeable stylistic element is the color. Rebelling against the highlighter brights of the Frisc though, Floor Four has a softer palette, with a very heavy emphasis on purple. SciLi, are you trying to tell us something?
Tuesday, 11:37 pm
Up in the fourth floor airport hangar, where the fluorescent lights shine bright, moving furniture seems to be the new trend. If only we had been making a slow motion movie since last night.
What an odd space. It's just begging to be Friscafied.
Monday, 11:30 pm
With Providence weather still dipping into the 40s, one would think the time for air conditioning has not yet come. Well, welcome to frickin freezing Frisc. (And the fourth floor ain't too cozy either.)
Monday, 8:54 pm
The renovated fourth floor is probably the strangest place in the entire Sciences Library. The open, brightly lit space brings to mind taking final exams in a high school gymnasium. The low, plastic sofas appear to have been transported from the preschool on Hope Street. The space could hold infinitely more work space and yet … it just doesn't. Reminiscent of another area in the library with questionable furniture placement…
The redeeming quality is that few people know this space holds anything different than the rest of the stacks, and yet this cross-bred hybrid world is just a short elevator ride away.
