West Campus

From Duke Wiki

[edit] Location

The view of Main West from the West Campus Bus Stop. In this photo, the West Union, Flowers Building, and the Chapel
The view of Main West from the West Campus Bus Stop. In this photo, the West Union, Flowers Building, and the Chapel

Contents


West Campus, located a few miles west of Downtown Durham, is the main campus for Duke University. West Campus spans from the Davison building of the Old Medical School to the Fuqua School of Business and the Washington Duke Inn and Country Club.

[edit] Layout

West is a sprawling, multi-acre, grass-covered campus home to dining, dormitories, and academic and university buildings. West Campus is also home to the symbol of the university, the Chapel. Students living on Central Campus and East Campus are dropped at the West Campus Bus Stop which sits a few hundred yards from the face of the chapel. This central lawn, marked by a towering statue of Duke Statue anchors the campus and makes for one of the universities most inviting and oft-used outdoor performance venues.

View from Craven Quad
View from Craven Quad

Facing the chapel from the bus stop, undergraduate dormoritories are on the left, with the university Hospital, Allen Building, Perkins Library and several academic buildings on the right. The West Union Building is foreward on the left, and the Bryan center is on the left behind the chapel. Past the chapel through a small well maintained grove of trees lies the science and engineering quads which sprawl out in the considerable space behind and along Science Drive and Research Drive drive's.

The most noticable characteristics of the campus are its gothic architecture, its immense size, and the wide and hetergenous dispersion of its facilities. The campus is long, even when classes are confined to it. The walk from the West Campus Bus Stop the the Physics Building takes seven minutes at a brisk pace. Given the ten-to-fifteen minutes it takes for busses to traverse the distances from East Campus to west, it is unsurprising that many freshman are waiting at to catch busses to their morning classes as early as 8:00 Am most days.

[edit] Restaurants

The campus is home to upperclassmen dining and a variety of restaurants. The West Union building, which runs up and adjacent to the Plaza forms the gastral center of the campus. Subway (sandwiches), The Loop (homestyle grill), and The Great Hall (cafeteria) comprise its variety of dining accomadations from the Plaza side, while the Alpine Bagel and Vending Machines are available from The Chapel side. On the second floor, in the Mary Lou Williams Center, resides the mysterious Faculty Commons which is not open to students unless accompanied by a faculty member.

The Bryan Center houses another set of choices for students. On the lower levels are a McDonalds (fast food), Armadillo Grill (Mexican) and the Alpine Atrium coffee shop. Students can also buy snacks at the vending machines or in the Lobby Shop.

In the research quadrangle, off of Science Drive there are two restaurants. The Levine Science Research Center house the Blue Express, which serves lunch in a higher-quality cafeteria arrangement. CIEMAS houses Twinnies on the lower floor, which serves gourmet sandwiches and coffee shop fair.

Tommy's Rubs & Grubs forms the final major dining attraction available to students on West, serving North Carolina Barbeque and other fried favorites.

[edit] Criticisms

Students have a penchant for criticizing the dining options available on west campus. Most students confine their dinner dining to the three restaurants near The Plaza - The Loop, the Armadillo Grill, and The Great Hall. Though students in Edens also frequent Tommy's. The reason for these limitations are obvious when one considers that the other on-campus eateries are either fast-food restaurants or coffee-shops, or only open for lunch. Thus, the debate over which of the amazing variety of restaurants on west to attend often devolves into a choice between not-so-stellar cafeteria food, Mexican, or a burger.

[edit] Quads

The Clocktower from the West Campus Bus Stop. In this direction: Few, Craven, Wannamaker.
The Clocktower from the West Campus Bus Stop. In this direction: Few, Craven, Wannamaker.

Housing on Main West is split into six residential quads: Craven, Crowell/Wannamaker, Edens, Few, Keohane, and Kilgo. Four of the six quads lie on the main quad, these being: Craven, Crowell, Few, and Kilgo. Wannamaker and Keohane hug the main quad and connect it to Edens quad, which is by far the furthest away from the main chapel quad.

[edit] External Links

Retrieved from "http://www.duiki.com/wiki/West_Campus"