Since my first year at Georgia Tech, I’ve loved the campus’s architecture. There’s a perfect blend of old highlights that are the landmarks you think of when you think of GT, like Tech Tower and the Einstein statue, to newer buildings that represent the modern and futuristic side of campus, like the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design and the renovated Price Gilbert Library and Crossland Tower.
When I lived in 8th Street Apartments last year, I noticed some exciting designs on each building’s entrance. Outside of 8th Street East, where I lived, there is a model of our solar system with the word “EXPLORATION” under it. I felt that the image was a beautiful tribute to the discovery of how the concept of our solar system developed since 1543. When I was walking near my old apartment a few weeks ago, I rediscovered that etching, and I wanted to take a deep dive into how many similar etchings were on campus. So with my friend, fellow Charged Magazine writer, and uber-talented photographer Steven Yang, we took a fun walk around West Campus, documenting everything we could find.
During our journey, we found six different etchings at the entrances and the backs of student apartments on West Campus. Included were the solar system model mentioned earlier, the Georgia Tech seal, Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (with the word “HUMANITY”), the Earth representing “CIVILIZATION,” the Milky Way for “DISCOVERY,” and a beautiful but simple model of the atom, with “EXISTENCE.” At the Nelson-Shell apartment, there weren’t drawings, but the words “KNOWLEDGE” and “TECHNOLOGY” were marked. Finally, we found a plaque showing when Nelson-Shell was constructed for the 1996 Olympic Games.
What I loved about this adventure was discovering all of the etchings and gaining a deeper appreciation for what the pieces all together mean to me as a growing scientist. The etchings represent all the discoveries that have become the foundations of almost every STEM field and what they mean to society. Including knowledge and technology in the apartments perfectly complements the other buildings by considering the Georgia Tech motto: Progress and Service. We take the knowledge of the past, build new technology that improves the world, and further the values shown in the other campus etchings.
Top row (left to right): Eighth Street East (back), Eighth Street South (front), Eighth Street South (back)
Middle row: Nelson, Eighth Street West (back), Shell (back)
Bottom row: Eighth Street East (back), Shell (front), Eighth Street West (front)
If you ever walk around campus and see a weird or cool sculpture or marking on the building, don’t just think about why it was added there, but what it means to you as a student. The etchings have become my favorite place to reflect on just how much campus has changed to become a place where its students work to bring the next generation of computer science, medical devices, and energy technology, all pushed by the motto of Progress and Service.
