The mid-afternoon light seeps in through the skylight of the Gilman Atrium. Despite being a fairly new place on campus, the area is quickly becoming one of the most popular spots for students and professors to meet, socialize and study. Located at the heart of the University’s hub of humanities, the atrium stands in stark contrast to the rest of the fairly traditionally-styled building. Its most distinctive features are its large, low-hanging white cloth orbs that are strung from the high glass ceiling and its oddly-shaped orange chairs.
The area is flanked by restored stained glass windows set in a facade of white brick and large picture windows that open onto offices of professors. With its clear ceiling, the overall effect is one of sitting outdoors and most students will probably agree that the new atrium is a drastic improvement over the long, enclosed hallway with its single old vending machine that used to lead to the Hutzler Reading Room.
At this point in the afternoon, the area is filled with students lounging in the modern chairs or hunched over laptops, studying and speaking quietly. The low sound of conversation rises and falls in intervals, and a sleepy student dressed in grey sweats muffles her face in a coffee cup as she shuffles her way through the center and out the main Gilman doors.
For two whole years, Gilman, the home of the humanities at Hopkins, has been cloaked under canvases and metal supports while humanities students were starved of a place they could call their own. The temporary stand-in, the Dell House, loomed cold and remote on 29th street, but with the return of a renewed Gilman Hall, it seems that the spirit of the arts has finally been returned to its rightful place at the center of campus.
