Converse Hall - Stephanie Woodford

This is a picture taken from the fourth floor of the Warsaw Parking Garage and looking out across South Main Street and at the JMU campus. More specifically this picture focuses on Converse Hall which serves as a residence hall located next to the quad and behind Ashby Computer Lab facing South Main Street. Converse Hall is a residence hall creating a place where students live and are able to relax and be comfortable. This building can serve many purposes including a refuge for students to get away and enjoy the space of their own rooms or a place where students can come together and hang out in one of the television or study lounges. Since Converse Hall mostly consists of suite style rooms which include two bedrooms and a bathroom I would say that when creating the building designers definitely intended for it to be used as a residence hall.
I have never been inside of this building and am not sure of exactly what functions, if any, are held there; therefore I cannot suggest any ways to improve it for student use. One thing that does bother me about this building is that if I had lived here I would not like how close it is located to a main road such as South Main Street. I would prefer to live in a residence hall that was more enclosed by the campus. But, I believe that Greenburg would appreciate the way Converse Hall faces outward towards the community where it is more welcoming to outsiders. If it were facing inward towards campus then it may appear as a wall trying to block the outside community from entering the JMU campus.
Converse Hall is a large building and although not part of the quad it is still architecturally coherent with the buildings located on the quad and on other parts of the campus. Therefore, strengthening Greenberg’s argument that campuses built before 1950 tend to be more intellectually and architecturally coherent than those built after. Being one of the larger buildings on JMU’s campus, Converse Hall is set back from the street allowing the public to enjoy the view and not be overwhelmed by its interesting entryway of columns and arches. Converse Hall is such a beautiful and large building face out away from JMU campus that it will be a hard image for and student or Harrisonburg resident to forget.