Each time I walk into the Commons I feel a sense of doom- I don’t want to go inside. I see the gray building looming over me. I’ve noticed a few other issues with the Seven Hills campus, as well. From exiting the Schiff Center, to the chilling winds of Founders and the science wing, to the commons’ cold design, I’ve realized that Seven Hills’ campus might not be all it’s cracked up to be.
The Commons is one of the oddest buildings I’ve ever seen. It seems like the rough blueprint for a few other buildings on campus, with its gray exterior and white beams. The paint on the outside of the commons is peeling- revealing rotting wood underneath. The doors to the commons are barely holding on, their white paint peeling as well. The commons is also a perfect little rectangle, with no interest. It is not the exterior of the commons that is terrible, though, but the interior. Upon stepping through the door, you are greeted by a wave of thick, cold air. You have entered into an area of disarray; chairs are haphazardly placed about the space. The gross little modular carpet squares have detached and are floating around the room. The four coveted booths are constantly moving around, as well. The small circular tables have accomplished the incredible feat of providing no comfortable space for feet or chairs. The bar height tables along the wall are on their last legs, with at least 5 inches of horizontal play, as they have no support. The weird tech office porch lurks above you constantly. A hanging black sheet hides their upstairs mess of cables and computers. The porch is decorated by two, black, old-timey lamp posts. The rest of the commons is just odd. Multiple square shaped hospital lights point at the ceiling in such a way that makes you sad. Lack of light is an overall theme in the commons, with the windows covered and perched far above eye-level. In an effort to make the commons more friendly, art has been placed on the sad walls. Looking past the art, there is a hole in the ceiling. Dark and brown, the hole looms over you just as the lights, beams, and windows do. This mixture of terrible things creates one of the most unpleasant places to be in, in which you can not figure out what exactly is irking you. And, I am not alone on the issue.
The Schiff Center is Seven Hills’ latest building. It has none of the commons’ issues. For a modern building, it is quite warm and cozy. The issue comes when students have to leave this pleasant building. They first must exit the auditorium out of either a double door, or a small door out of the side of the theater. If the student dropped off their backpack outside the auditorium, they must sift through the oncoming traffic of students eager to leave. Then, everyone leaves this building through a small double door, and then out across the street. From here, you must go up a staircase whose width is varying constantly. At the bottom, it is just two people wide and parallel to the street. It quickly becomes extremely wide and perpendicular to the street, and then thins itself out on the diagonal. And if you wish to go down the staircase when the trend is up, you don’t. This whole system seems ridiculously complicated. For such a new building, how did they ignore the fact that 450 people need to exit at once, and need to get out of there quickly? Overall, this makes exiting the Schiff Center something stressful and slow, when it could be seamless and smooth.
When I eat food, I like to be somewhere warm and comforting. But, Seven Hills’ Founders provides nothing but. When I ate lunch in Founders, I would often start shivering mid-bite. I had to wear sweatshirts and cover my hands when I wasn’t using them. The room was often colder than the outside, and would not be surprised if it was normally 60-something degrees. Founders suffers from similar issues to the Commons, with dim lighting and gray everywhere. I haven’t voluntarily been in the lunch room in months.
I certainly have my own suspicions, but I wanted to see what other students thought, and surprisingly they agreed with me. Students are not fans of the commons, with 75% of students agreeing the commons feels desolate. Students also overwhelmingly believe Founders is cold, and that the Schiff Center is cumbersome to exit. I even received golden quotes like, “fix the weather inside” and “everything too cold.” I am not a total campus hater, though, the DAC and Upper School are incredible. But, for a school as high a caliber as Seven Hills, their “college-like campus” may be losing its luster.
