Second Life Critiques by Mary Dauterman

1. Law- I really liked your take on the UT tower! I had trouble flying high enough to read your Thincbook (until I read your instructions). I also liked that you made the Thincbook extra big. Didn't you have a media player outside your building at one point? I think it would be really cool if we could go inside your structure, or maybe you could build a second building so we could see what it's like to be inside an all-glass building. Overall, I'm impressed. Good job!

2. Liz-You are definitely the Second Life Master! I actually saw your building before your paper and kept thinking about it as I read your paper. After seeing/reading I think your written portion and visual portion reflect each other perfectly, especially the part about people walking under buildings rather than around them. My only advice is to maybe add a classroom to your campus so we can truly experience your campus. Great job with the Thincbook, too!

3. Rachel- I agree with Brad- this courtyard would be a really cool hangout place! I am especially in awe of your fountain. I have to say, this is a really large space...how do you intend to show us your plan? Are you thinking about adding any classrooms? It would also be good for you to show us your overall layout (that you used in your paper) again somewhere. I remember you mentioned making cozy interior spaces for students to hang out. Maybe you could create a space like this? I'm looking forward to exploring your campus!

4. Emily- I thought it would be very difficult to make a deconstructivist building, but you did it! It reminded me of the pictures I saw in your paper of Gehry's work. While there is little to change about your exterior, I think it's very important for us to be able to experience the interior of your building. You could make the base shape of your building hollow so we could at least walk inside and glance around. It would also be cool if you could incorporate text and visuals from your paper into the interior of your building, like a litte gallery. This would be a great way to tie everything together.

5. Eric- Cool building! I'm especially impressed by your arches. I would suggest maybe adding a floor to your building and decorating your walls with pictures from your paper. You could even make it look like an art gallery by using the frames within the object library in SL. That way, your building would still reflect a traditional Spanish structure and still look neat and orderly on the inside. You've made excellent progress and good luck with the rest of your building!

6. Megan S. - I really like your building because, while it has a traditional Spanish look, I can see how you're modernizing it to make it eco-friendly with all the windows! Very cool! Right now, everything is lined up perfectly and I'm impressed by your arches--that must have been hard to do! I'm guessing you are going to do a stone exterior for your outside texture? I used a picture of the limestone on Sutton Hall for some of my textures and that ended up working pretty well. How are you planning on integrating your text? I think a good way to use your interior space is to make a gallery of ideas from your paper. I'm sure your finished building will be great and I can't wait to see it!

7. Ashley- Your "falling water"-esque building is so cool! What kind of class would you hold in it? Maybe you could make the building a place to explore by making the overhangs more like porches. It would also be really cool if we could go inside of it, but you might have to increase the size of everything. The way you treated nature stands out from everyone else's project--I think you are the first person to emphasize it in this way. I love your huge flowers and waterfall...this is definately a place I would enjoy having class! Is the tower part of your project too? I like it, but maybe you could integrate it into your campus by extending your garden or adding trees around it. Also, how do you plan on integrating your text? You could make your campus like a walking garden with podiums that have sections of your paper on them, kind of like we were visiting a museum. Good job and good luck!

8. Garrison- Great job emulating Battle Hall! I think it's a really good example of the ideal Spanish building for UT. Is there anything you would change about it (add/subtract) to make it your own, or do you like it just the way it is? I like that you included the pictures from your text as a gallery inside your building. Maybe you could embed notes that have portions of your paper within these pictures so that we experience your ideas as we look around your building. I remember you wrote about how important landscape and nature would be on your campus. Is there any way you could show that in your building? Add more pictures maybe? Overall, good job. I definitely left your building with a clear understanding of your master plan.

9. Brad- Your approach was totally different than everyone else's, and I think you've done the best job of integrating text with your SL project. While your ideas and actual structure are free-form, you clearly describe each section with labels as we jump from step to step. I really would like to see some form of concrete building, or at least a courtyard (something we would come across on your campus). You talked about putting a bike path on your campus--why not use that as a way to clearly define the space around your project? Also, I really liked your ideas about interactive art. I bet you could find a way to put you ideas to work on Second Life. Your ideas about speaking platforms and life music around campus are also cool. Isn't there a way to stream music on SL? You're the SL genius, and I'm sure you'll come up with tons of crazy stuff to impress us with your project!