This moment, and all my moments for the next five weeks, I’ll spend in the middle of the flat Illinois, in the twin-town Urbana-Champaign (or Champaign-Urbana). They say it’s so flat, that you can watch you cat run away for three days! Scenery without mountain tops might be difficult to orient in, but is perfect for cycling and skating on rollerblades. And there is enough space for everything: buildings, green parks and trees.
The University of Illinois, founded in 1867, was situated on the border between Urbana and Champaign, but now, when the towns have merged, the university area has become the heart of the twin-town, stretching across 2 km from North to South and 1,6 km from West to East, including the green open spaces between the buildings.
I noticed that many of the buildings are made of orange bricks. The same were also the old roads in Urbana. Usually in Norway, or other places in Europe, old roads are put together as mosaics of gray cubic stones – but here, the main units were bricks, the same as used for the buildings. My son and I discussed the colours and materials of the roads and houses whiles walking through Michigan avenue - interrupted only by the threes and the sounds of their green garments while dancing to the rhythm of the wind. Where would one find enough stone to builds a road in this land of fields and soil? Clay seems to be the most natural choice to build with. Without easy transportation, one had to use what was available. (This brings me to the core of my research project: Specific qualities of the materials in our close environment, afford us with possibilities … “for good or ill” (Gibson, 1979)).
I am a visiting student (of visiting scholar) at the University of Illinois, but I don’t think that I count as one of the 42 000 student at the university – or of the 17 000 graduate students (master- and phd- students). Anyway, I am happy to be here and have possibility to learn from, and with, many successful researchers, scholars, teachers and students!
This moment, and all my moments for the next five weeks, I’ll spend in the middle of the flat Illinois, in the twin-town Urbana-Champaign (or Champaign-Urbana). They say it’s so flat, that you can watch you cat run away for three days! Scenery without mountain tops might be difficult to orient in, but is perfect for cycling and skating on rollerblades. And there is enough space for everything: buildings, green parks and trees.
The University of Illinois, founded in 1867, was situated on the border between Urbana and Champaign, but now, when the towns have merged, the university area has become the heart of the twin-town, stretching across 2 km from North to South and 1,6 km from West to East, including the green open spaces between the buildings.
I noticed that many of the buildings are made of orange bricks. The same were also the old roads in Urbana. Usually in Norway, or other places in Europe, old roads are put together as mosaics of gray cubic stones – but here, the main units were bricks, the same as used for the buildings. My son and I discussed the colours and materials of the roads and houses whiles walking through Michigan avenue - interrupted only by the threes and the sounds of their green garments while dancing to the rhythm of the wind. Where would one find enough stone to builds a road in this land of fields and soil? Clay seems to be the most natural choice to build with. Without easy transportation, one had to use what was available. (This brings me to the core of my research project: Specific qualities of the materials in our close environment, afford us with possibilities … “for good or ill” (Gibson, 1979)).
I am a visiting student (of visiting scholar) at the University of Illinois, but I don’t think that I count as one of the 42 000 student at the university – or of the 17 000 graduate students (master- and phd- students). Anyway, I am happy to be here and have possibility to learn from, and with, many successful researchers, scholars, teachers and students!
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