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Back to the rumors again... some of them really are quite funny.  No, the two large window walls are not projection screens.  We won't be seeing ads or art or anything else but white lights in them.  What are they really for? 

The architect wanted the inside to be lit with natural light during the day, but he didn't want anyone to have to look out at existing campus architecture.  Neither the Admin Building nor the sculpture graveyard behind Staller Center are particularly appealing.  So behind the glass walls are courtyards, and overlooking the courtyards are 'offices' - therefore someone in an 'office' looks out at gardens while still seeing the sun (or rain, or moon and stars.)

South side (Admin) light wall under construction.		Finished south side light wall.
West side (Staller) light wall under construction.		Finished west side light wall with interior shadows..
Third floor office, under construction, overlooking south courtyard. (Sorry, new mega pixels camera we haven't figured out yet. Click on photo for clear enlargement.)		Looking up in west courtyard.

'Office' in this case is used generically as behind the two glass walls are offices, meeting rooms, a small gift shop / bookstore, even one of the men's bathrooms overlooks a courtyard - while its counterpart has a lit glass block wall.

One rumor that we want to start (because it's true) - is that the bathrooms are incredible.  In the woman's one by the theatre, as you walk in, in front of you will be an indoor garden and you won't feel as though you are entering a bathroom at all.  Only as you get to the garden and turn to the right will you know.  There isn't any inch of space that hasn't been carefully designed to make this building unique.

But bathrooms are the least of what the building has and what it can be used for.  Here's a sprinkling of its uses - and we ask you to hypothesize others and lets us know what you think is possible.  Because that is exactly what the architect did when he first conceived the needs of this building.  An email was sent out to the campus community asking people here to come up with their wish list.  Obviously everything couldn't get accommodated, like the billiard tables, but a lot was.  The more everyone understands how they can use the Wang Center, the more everyone will look forward to its opening.  Here's just a small sampling of how different areas of the campus community could enjoy the Wang Center.

Charles wanted the building to be a "boy meets girl" place - and for students it will be.  There is no real campus undergraduate "coffeehouse" - no place for students to meet, go on a date, listen to music, hang with friends, socialize.  But at night, the zig zag walled pan-Asian cafeteria overlooking the garden and pool could become just that - a bubble cafe with a Kevin So strumming one night, and an up and coming Margaret Cho type sending everyone into fits of laughter the next. 

And no longer will prospective students have to endure finding out what Stony Brook is about from the confines of the old gym.  Instead they could be talking to the reps from the bio department around an indoor koi and water lily pond.  You have to admit that would make Brooky Stone seem a lot more enticing.  The reception area space has room for 2000. 

Under four story skylight where koi and lily pool will be.		By tower looking down into theatre sculpture gallery.
Eight sided windows at back of theatre stage.		In theatre sculpture gallery looking up at tower poles.
Construction photos.		Construction photos.

Just think of what else could go in there... here's three possibilities:

• Alumni reunions and semi-formals - dancing beside the 85' long fountain.  And it doesn't even have to be student centered.  When was the last time the entire faculty met and socialized like they did annually in the old days?  In 5 years it will be Stony Brook's 50th anniversary - what more beautiful place to bring back the faculty and staff for a weekend of reminiscing to show how far we've come?
   

• Our students come from everywhere in the world - and like students everywhere - when they fall in love, nation states don't exist.  Yet getting married when one set of parents is in Beijing and the other set is in Singapore has its difficulties. 

Reva and Paul Sey, Stony Brook grad student alumni in a similar bind, had their white gown wedding at Rutgers Old Chapel and the red gown reception in Chinatown.  Now, with the Wang Center all purpose room turned into a chapel for the day - with diffused light coming through the frosted glass over the indoor bamboo garden - what better place to get married - with an indoor or outdoor reception around koi and lily filled pools?

• Dinner receptions with speakers like at the recent Koch Symposium, with seating surrounded by works of art rather than in the fishbowl lobby of SAC.

And those areas for art - goodness - the display space - walls and walls and walls - on floor after floor - behind glass like in the Metropolitan.  It will not be possible to go through even a small part of this building without having art in some shape or form surround your senses.

And on the academic side - what's possible?  The lecture rooms, theatre, and all-purpose room are state of the art and all centered together around the sculpture lobby and Chinese scholar's garden.  The School of Engineering used to have a program funded by CA that brought mid to high level managers to Stony Brook for a semester of business courses.  The problem was asking people to leave their jobs and families for four months to come here.  Now those same courses could be taught anywhere in Asia, no, anywhere in the world, while being taught here at the same time - and vice versa - using the video teleconferencing capabilities of the Wang Center.  Juggling the timing will be fun - but even if students here are no shows for an 8am class, that same class in Tokyo will be filled at 8pm.

But entire classes were not the prime reason for the state of the art - conferences and lectures were.  Stony Brook has an annual game theory conference each summer.  Now not only can the people who can physically make it here enjoy it - the whole world can tune in - like Reiko Aoki in New Zealand - formerly of Stony Brook's Economics department. 

Nor is it just our lecturers who will be able to be heard in Asia.  Their greatest minds can be heard here.  The capabilities of the Wang Center will allow us to come up with innovative ideas for teaching and reaching that we haven't even thought of yet.  But the possibilities are exciting!

And remember, none of the above even includes what everyone thinks this building is for - the shows, and movies, and theatre, and art - all in what is hoped will become the premiere facility for Asian and Asian American culture and entertainment in the country.

                                                                                                          - Liang and Young