I've worked in the same building for fifteen years, and it is one that is quite often called the ugliest on campus. Over my time there, however, I've learned to find the beauty in the ugly. Sometimes I tell people it is easy to do if they just embrace the mid-century modern aesthetic. But for me, it is in the small details: the light illuminating a hallway, the ill-fitting double doors I've walked through countless times on the way to the soda machine, the way that one hallway meets another meets another. People get lost in this building often, and even after fifteen years there are parts that remain a mystery to me.
I'm told that this building will be gone within the next five years, and as much as I look forward to one that is more functional in general, I will miss these spaces, even in all of their empty despair. Until then, I'll be documenting the beauty where I find it in my daily existence.