Gould Hall has had both positive and negative effects on me as a student. Being an interior design major I have spent plenty of time in this building. I pretty much know my way around this building like the back of my hand.

From the first day of classes freshman year I have had a class in Gould Hall. My first every class was studio in the Gallery. The gallery in Gould Hall is a large linear space with a barrel ceiling. We were in this space because the basement (where we were supposed to be) had flooded. Therefore we had to spend three and a half hours in the gallery for studio. This was not the most ideal space for a few reasons. One of the reasons being we did not have any space to put our supplies. In the usual studio classrooms we have our own cubby space and our own oversized desk. The second reason being the gallery echo’s terribly. I now know that this is because the space does not have enough acoustic support. All the surfaces in the space are hard therefore the sound has nothing to absorb into.

After finally getting out of the gallery and the flooding was controlled we got to move into the basement. The basement had its own unique set of problems. The biggest problem for me was the lack of natural light received in the basement. I did not realize how much I appreciated natural light until the next year when our studio class was on the third floor. The third floor studio had much more natural light and resulted in a more positive learning environment. After moving out of the basement I have turned my negative feelings about Gould Hall into positive ones because of the experiences I have had in the building.

Overall I have spent a lot of time in Gould Hall. I have spent very late nights and very early mornings there. I am happy to never have to take another class in the basement, although I believe it gave me a new appreciation for having natural light in the classroom.