Our excuse for being in New Zealand is the month that I am spending visiting with my colleague Liz Franz who is in the Psychology Department at the University of Otago. It is a good time for me, because I have no responsibilities (to teach or otherwise), and out-of-sight, out-of-mind seems to describe my interactions with colleagues at UCI. So I have had lots of time to work on a paper and analyses for other research, talk with Liz and her students, and just think.
Otago is the oldest in New Zealand’s system of universities and has become the one of the universities with the strongest research focus. Psychology is the highest ranked of the university’s departments and so is well supported. One manifestation of this is the new William James Psychology building in which I am working, which is pictured to the right. This is probably not the most flattering picture of this modern building but it does highlight one of its more interesting, or perhaps arcane, features. The building has been designed to be energy and resource efficient. Although I cannot see it, apparently it has a grass covered roof. Rain water is captured and used for the toilets in the building — you can see that; the water in the toilets is brown. All the lights are on motion sensors – if you sit without moving for even 30 seconds they turn off. However, there is a lot of glass to let in light and many of the windows open. One potential problem with all this glass that the north facing windows (yes, north down here) can get too much sun. So, as you can see in this picture, each floor has a set of sliding, louvered shades that can be placed in front of windows with this problem. But how are such shades moved to the right place? I am told that in strong winds they move on their own. Yes, you can open a window and try to reach out and slide one a few feet. Just the thought scared me when I leaned out one of the windows to consider this. It appears that the “solution” is the set of walkways that you can see below the shutters. However, it is not clear how one actually gets onto these – they are too low to step onto from the windows – or who has to do it. Very strange.
Of course like most campuses, this one is actually an amalgam of new and old buildings. The psychology department inhabits 5 buildings in a cluster connected by walkways. You can see 3 of them here: the beautiful old house in the foreground, the William James Building in the background, and a utilitarian metal structure in the middle.
Shown below is one of the buildings that make up a quadrangle that was the original University of Otago. Of course, the varsity – a term here used synonymously with university – was much smaller then. It has grown now to over 20,000 students (still only about two-thirds the size of UCI) with a large hospital attached.
Like most modern campuses, it has tree-lined pathways and its share of all glass modern buildings.
One of the nice features of this campus is that the Leith River curves through it. Although the river itself, which is concrete lined with water that looks dirty and uninviting, is not all the pretty, it creates around it many pretty spaces. Another positive feature, for which I do not have any pictures, is the wonderful new library and student center building. Both have many comfortable spaces and provide easy access to things that students need. This building definitely seems to be a success given how heavily used it seems to be every time I have walked through it.
