Georgia Institute of Technology

Campus, buildings, and other structures

The Georgia Tech campus is located in Midtown, an area north of downtown Atlanta. Although a number of skyscrapers are visible from all points on campus — most notably the headquarters of both BellSouth and The Coca-Cola Company as well as Atlanta's tallest building, the Bank of America building — the campus itself has few buildings over a few stories and has a great deal of greenery. This gives it a distinctly suburban atmosphere quite different from other Atlanta campuses such as that of Georgia State University or Emory.

Related Topics:
Midtown - Skyscrapers - BellSouth - The Coca-Cola Company - Bank of America - Georgia State University - Emory

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The campus is organized into four main parts: West Campus, East Campus, Central Campus, and Technology Square. West Campus and East Campus are both occupied primarily by student living complexes, while Central Campus is reserved primarily for buildings used for teaching and research. Technology Square, located across the Downtown Connector and embedded in the city east of East Campus, is home to the School of Management, the official school bookstore, a hotel, as well as offices for a number of faculty and graduate students, the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center, and other small companies.

Related Topics:
Downtown Connector - Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center

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West Campus is occupied primarily by apartments and coed undergraduate freshman dormitories. The Campus Recreation Center (formerly the Student Athletic Complex), a volleyball court, a large, low natural green area known as the Burger Bowl, a large, and a flat artificial green area known as the SAC Field are all located near the western side of the campus. Also within easy walking distance of West Campus is City Cafe, which is open 24 hours, Rocky Mountain Pizza, and Engineer's Bookstore, an alternative to Georgia Tech's official bookstore. West Campus is also home to a music club operated by students called Under the Couch {{ref|undercouch}} as well as a small diner and convenience store, West Side Market. Due to limited space, all auto travel proceeds via a network of one-way streets which connects West Campus to the larger campus roads Ferst Road and Hemphill Avenue. The dining hall for West Campus, the Woodruff Dining Hall, or 'Woody's', is part of the Woodruff student dormitory.

Related Topics:
Volleyball - Burger Bowl

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East Campus houses all of the Fraternities and Sororities as well as most of the undergraduate freshman dormitories. Although the residences are similar, East Campus is decidedly more urban than West Campus. It abuts on the Downtown Connector, which is infamous for its traffic and suffers from high pollution during peak hours. However, via a number of bridges over the highway as well as a tunnel under it, East Campus has quick access to Midtown and its businesses such as The Varsity as well as having access to Tech Square. Georgia Tech's stadiums, such as the famous Bobby Dodd Stadium, are located on East Campus, and tech Square is accessible on foot from there. East Campus's dining hall, Brittain, is modeled after a medieval church, complete with carved columns and stained-glass windows showing symbolic figures. While much more architecturally appealling than Woodruff, Brittain's food is consistently ranked below West Campus alternatives. The main road leading from East Campus to Central Campus is a sharp incline referred to as "Freshman Hill" or simply "The Hill."

Related Topics:
Downtown Connector - The Varsity - Bobby Dodd Stadium

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Reserved primarily for academic, research, and office buildings, Central Campus has no residences. Buildings like the Howey Physics Building, the Boggs Chemistry Building, the College of Computing, the Skiles building, which houses the math and humanities departments, and the Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building, provide the various academic functionalities of the campus. Intermingled with these are a variety of research facilities, such as the Centennial Research Building, the Pettit Microelectronics Research Center, the Electronic Research Building, and the Petit Biotechnology Building. Tech's administrative buildings, such as the Student Services Building (Flag Building), Tech Tower, and the Bursar's Office are also located here. However, Central Campus doesn't altogether lack places to waste time; it has a large library with sizable computer clusters, a small traditional eatery called Junior's Grill, as well as a large communal building for students, called the Student Center. The Student Center includes a number of eating places, computer clusters, a game room, the Post Office, a darkened Music Listening Room. In front of the Student Center is a fountain monument called the Kessler Campanile, which students often refer to as 'The Shaft'. Yellow Jacket Park, the area of Central Campus in front of the Student Center, has many trees and benches around its edges but the center is kept open and uninterrupted.

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Some areas of Central Campus, such as the Boggs Chemistry and Industrial Engineering buildings, are more accessible from West Campus. Others, such as Skiles, Junior's, Tech Tower, and the library are more accessible from East Campus. East Campus has foot access to Tech Square, but Tech Square can also be reached from anywhere on campus via the Tech Trolley transportation system.

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