Catherine McGowan's Madison Space for 4/7

James Madison University’s newly constructed Memorial softball field resides in a space very meaningful to me. The field, located on South High Street beside Memorial Hall, once accommodated the football and track facilities for Harrisonburg High School (HHS). Memorial Hall, in fact, is the former Harrisonburg High School. I remember Friday nights in the fall spent cheering from the bleachers and, in the winter, practicing and competing on the track. It was on the field that Akeem Jordan, now a linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, played. In 2001, Jordan led the football team to the Division AA State Title. Although the old bleachers have been razed and the track demolished, each time I pass the new stadium I remember what was once there and its influence upon me.

In Colleges Have Lost Interest in Designing Campuses With Meaning, Allan Greenburg insists that few institutions care about the presentation and construction of their campus. I feel that this is somewhat true on JMU’s campus. In the above picture, there is a modern softball stadium with an older building appearing in the background. Greenburg would have a problem with the stadium because of its lack of relationship to the building in the background. The old building and modern sport complex do not architecturally match. Greenburg discourages campuses to build facilities without thinking or planning how the structures are going to look together. Sadly, it appears that JMU did just that. First off, the softball field sits on a small plot of land and with the baseball field and batting cages surrounding the complex, the entire set up looks overcrowded. There is no space surrounding the field. Greenberg stresses the importance of space on college campuses. A busy road sits right behind the stadium, which I am sure causes distractions during games. Especially for the spectators, the road is in their direct line of vision just past the field. The second problem Greenberg would have with the stadium is its relationship to the building. In fact, Memorial Hall and the softball field have no relationship to one another. The facade of the two structures do not match nor are they similar. From the picture, the obsolete building and the contemporary stadium make an awkward set up. The two structures clearly do not belong together making an unattractive scene. Lastly, the context of the two structures is different. Memorial Hall is a building that holds a lot of meaning for city residents who went to high school there. The closely positioned stadium takes away from the presence of the high school, suggesting that the building is inferior and no longer important. JMU seems to be sending the message that the school triumphs the town and objects that are meaningful to residents. Although I think the set up looks award and is not aesthetically pleasing, the new facilities were needed and JMU thought this was the best space for them. I just wish the directors would have put a little more thought into making the layout more coherent so that the stadium fits in with its surroundings.