As history professor Anthony Grafton lamented in a column last October, Princeton suffers from an inexplicable lack of outdoor study spaces. Though the springtime tilt of the earth's axis favors the inhabitants of our campus, our groundskeeping decidedly does not. View books, posters and other University propaganda pieces often depict Princeton students gaily working en plein air, but logistically it is an impossible dream.
These days, the vast preponderance of our outdoor furniture is located within a stone's - or better a hammer's - throw from a construction site. The constant grinding of machines does little to steady the nerves of the undergraduate as he makes his way through Proust or Chaucer. The noise notwithstanding, the metal tables outside of Wu, Wilcox and their respective colleges are as unattractive and dirty as they are uncomfortable and wobbly. In many cases, the best one can hope for is a solitary metal bench. Perhaps when the new Butler College is completed, the benches behind Bloomberg Hall will again be an attractive spot for repose, but even they are too far away for most of the community to enjoy regularly.
Up campus, the scene is little better with the singular and lovely exception of the courtyard outside Chancellor Green. As Grafton rightly noted, we need more of these spaces with smooth tables, adequate shade and comfortable chairs. Ideally, some exterior power outlets could be installed as well. Instead we have on the west side of West College a mysterious patio that rather resembles an abandoned cafe built by the Romans, but even this is an awkward and unsightly attempt at the genre. Princeton's courtyards should not have to be enjoyed only in transit or from behind a window.
Some grassy spaces are of course sacred, but we are kidding ourselves when we rope off ill-kempt and insignificant patches like that in front of Prospect House. No one wishes to see picnic tables surrounding Nassau Hall, but in 2008 there is no need to pretend anymore that this is Oxford or Cambridge. We must hope that as Princeton looks to the future with bold experiments like the science library designed by Frank Gehry, outdoor workspaces will be incorporated into new designs. The patio behind Joseph Henry and Scheide Caldwell Houses is a superb example of what can be done with existing structures. Spring, after all, is a terrible thing to waste.
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