The Blauhaus, the temporary Graduate School of Fine Arts building that had a healthy life span of nine years, was finally put to rest in July.
The big blue structure on the corner of 33rd and Chestnut streets was originally intended to house Fine Arts for no more than five years, but problems with the school's future site at Addams Hall lengthened its tenure.
After holding a farewell party for the building in July, Fine Arts faculty and staff pulled down a perforated section of the wall, and then let the hydraulic excavator finish the job.
The former home to the undergraduate fine arts program and graduate group in sculpture was originally targeted to be the site of a future dormitory under the new campus development plan the Board of Trustees approved last spring. However, specific plans have not yet been drawn up.
Instead, the site will be used as a new extension of Woodland Walk, ending at a landscaped plaza at 33rd and Chestnut streets. The extension has already been sketched out with paint.
In January, the undergraduate fine arts program was relocated from the Blauhaus to the newly renovated Addams Hall at 36th and Walnut streets.
Fine Arts had formerly occupied Smith Hall, which was demolished in 1995 to be replaced by the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories. However, the nearly completed Addams Hall suddenly burned down in March 1997 and was only finished last year.
In the past, many have criticized the Blauhaus, complaining that it was neglected and not well constructed. Some labeled it a "blemish" and one student called it a "blue, unventilated barrack." The building became infamous and its quality the subject of debate in 1998, when a bullet, fired from a car outside the building, pierced the plywood walls and hit a College senior in the thigh.
There are those, however, who will miss the structure.
Fine Arts Facilities Manager Joseph Moser called the building a "semi-industrial space," saying that it was the perfect kind of space for the department. "They're welding in there -- it has to be kind of rough space."
However, Moser noted that the school wasn't concerned about losing the studio space previously located in the Blauhaus.
"Compared to other programs we actually allocate more physical space to student use than any other program that I can think off," he said, adding that the average student had about 100 square feet of space at their disposal.
The name "Blauhaus" literally means "blue house" in German. It is a play on Bauhaus, a school of modernist art and architecture that flourished in Germany in the early 20th century.
