When I moved to Raleigh in 1960 to study architecture at the acclaimed N.C. State University School of Design, the new Student Bookstore looked to me like a masterpiece. Its dancing roof, sleek lines and fabulous brickwork made it stand out like a breath of the future. I felt as if I was in the presence of the new. Today I would rank it as one of a handful of good buildings on the campus, alongside Park Shops, the original Student Union building and Bragaw Dormitory.
Today we speak about the importance of sustainable design, yet at N.C. State we may throw away a remarkable building that could serve us another 50 years or more. Arguably the most sustainable act of building is to reuse what we already have. Doing so means we don't mine the earth or cut trees to build. And reusing a building means we don't create a new landfill.
The Student Bookstore was a new model of campus design. Its folded concrete canopy was a fragment of a larger vision by then-campus architect Terry Waugh, himself a teacher at the School of Design, to extend the canopy east-west across the entire length of the campus. This bold and regionally appropriate gesture would provide a shady place to walk and a kind of 20th century cloister where students could gather and move easily between classes.
