DrachenFire
2nd String
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The Armory
Heard rumblings that The Armory is set for renovations and 2/3 of the money needed has been raised.
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03-26-2018 11:08 AM |
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J.B.
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RE: The Armory
Renovations, doesn't mean that they're turning it into a basketball arena. They are probably just renovating as a nicer spot for tennis and other outdoor sports to have a indoor practice facility.
I don't want this thread to spiral into rumors.
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03-26-2018 11:14 AM |
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jcohen42
Special Teams
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RE: The Armory
Here's what's in the most recent Master Plan ( http://drexel.edu/facilities/design/masterPlan/):
"Turn the armory into a hub for student activity: Complementing the Armory’s existing recreational activities with mezzanine-level student gathering spaces can intensify student interaction and better link Drexel’s existing and future student neighborhoods."
I expect any internal renovations to be in line with this.
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03-26-2018 12:00 PM |
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DrachenFire
2nd String
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RE: The Armory
You guys really don't give the department and university enough credit for really thinking out of the box.
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03-26-2018 12:19 PM |
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DrachenFire
2nd String
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03-26-2018 02:04 PM |
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J.B.
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03-26-2018 02:25 PM |
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jcohen42
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RE: The Armory
...Well. Are they planning on converting the basement of the rec center, then? Or building an indoor facility at Vidas? Or are club sports and varsity tennis just not going to be playing in the winter?
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03-26-2018 02:27 PM |
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DrachenFire
2nd String
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RE: The Armory
I’d ask Fry, pretty sure this is his baby.
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03-26-2018 05:10 PM |
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bmf23
Water Engineer
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RE: The Armory
Well, looks like Drexel basketball is officially dead. I clearly no longer fit the culture of Drexel, and am completely done with the university. Convert the Armory into a Squash center? Are you kidding me?
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03-26-2018 11:26 PM |
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hiroshimacarp
1st String
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RE: The Armory
Wait...is this real? I thought it was one of you guys putting photo shop to work. Somebody please tell me this is a joke.
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03-27-2018 12:06 AM |
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dan10
Heisman
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RE: The Armory
(03-27-2018 12:06 AM)hiroshimacarp Wrote: Wait...is this real? I thought it was one of you guys putting photo shop to work. Somebody please tell me this is a joke.
I am not privy to what is going on but I too thought it was a photoshopped joke.
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03-27-2018 06:37 AM |
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fredsavage
Water Engineer
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RE: The Armory
the pdf drachen posted is from ussquash ... so not a joke?
this is basically a middle finger to the few drexel basketball fans out there
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03-27-2018 06:44 AM |
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DrachenFire
2nd String
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03-27-2018 06:46 AM |
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dan10
Heisman
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03-27-2018 06:53 AM |
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J.B.
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RE: The Armory
I also thought it was a joke.
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03-27-2018 07:47 AM |
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J.B.
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RE: The Armory
(03-26-2018 11:26 PM)bmf23 Wrote: Well, looks like Drexel basketball is officially dead. I clearly no longer fit the culture of Drexel, and am completely done with the university. Convert the Armory into a Squash center? Are you kidding me?
I don't think you EVER fit the culture of Drexel and I don't think anybody will miss you.
While you're at it, any way you can be done with university related sports message boards too?
This has nothing to do with basketball.
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03-27-2018 07:49 AM |
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jcohen42
Special Teams
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RE: The Armory
My main concern is this passage: "The Center’s twenty courts will create a hub of thirty-nine courts within a three-block radius that includes Drexel University’s seven courts and the University of Pennsylvania’s twelve courts."
The Vidas improvements didn't indicate any addition of indoor athletic space, so according to this they're keeping the squash courts in the Rec Center and basically donating the Armory to US Squash, which really shafts club and intramural sports that need indoor space to function (plus I think varsity tennis currently uses the Armory for varsity matches).
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03-27-2018 09:25 AM |
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DrachenFire
2nd String
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RE: The Armory
Going to guess that's what the bubble over, what I believe to be, Buckley is supposed to take care of.
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03-27-2018 10:25 AM |
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hiroshimacarp
1st String
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RE: The Armory
It shows how much people don’t care about a. Drexel athletics and b. Squash that this has been a year in the making and none of us knew about it.
It’s almost like squash is our pet project. So much so that we’ll cough up a place that would be perfect for sports that anybody cares about.
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03-27-2018 10:57 AM |
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DrachenFire
2nd String
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RE: The Armory
(03-27-2018 10:57 AM)hiroshimacarp Wrote: It shows how much people don’t care about a. Drexel athletics and b. Squash that this has been a year in the making and none of us knew about it.
It’s almost like squash is our pet project. So much so that we’ll cough up a place that would be perfect for sports that anybody cares about.
If squash were as popular as el Presidente and Big Z think/wish it is, this wouldn't have been released through the US Squash website. From checking out The Triangle and main Drexel websites, I see nothing that says the university community is aware of these plans. So when all of the money was raised for this and it was announced, and the students raised bloody hell over losing rec space, Fry could simply say that the project had been public for a year if only you had bothered to check out US Squash's website. It's a shady, BS move, but it seems to follow how Hess Labs and the Intercultural Center were dealt with too.
If you read up on the genesis of the Armory project, apparently the subject was first broached with the National Guard in 1998. It's important to remember that while it would have greatly benefited the athletics programs that would have called it home, it was also meant to be a larger gathering space for a growing university population for Convocation, Commencement and bringing in touring acts. Drexel had an average undergrad population of about 8500 students from 84-85 to 99-00. The DAC could hold about 30% of that. Drexel currently has about 15500 undergrads, the DAC can now only hold about 16% of the population. The next biggest space, the Main Auditorium, only seats 900. There doesn't appear to be any open place on campus that isn't spoken for some other initiative that could hold a multi-purpose building.
I know we've blown money on updating the DAC, but in the back of my mind I assumed it was just to buy time until the Armory could be looked at again, as that building just makes so much sense. To just, essentially, give it away for a pet project is monumentally stupid.
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03-27-2018 11:44 AM |
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