Emerging Technology Building (I think)

(This is Stop #4 in the Texas A&M Building Writing Tour, my attempt to motivate myself on my dissertation by writing in every campus building before I graduate.) 

This beautiful building has two wings that meet at a right angle. One wing is access-restricted, presumably filled with labs. On the classroom wing, all three floors open to a light-filled atrium running the entire length of the building. Tall glass windows let sunshine stream in and allow a view of a desert-style patio featuring Texas vegetation.  

This is one of several new buildings A&M has constructed during the many years I have been a doctoral student. The piece of ground on which this building sits was once part of Lot 50, my designated parking location. (Each year, I pay $275 for the privilege of parking. I justify the expense by reasoning that if I had to pay cash for the parking garage every time I drove in from Houston, I wouldn’t come very often.) It’s entirely possible that I once parked my car in the exact place of today’s writing session.

What struck me most about this building is that I had no idea of its name, even though I’d walked through it several times and once did a long writing session here. Most buildings do not hide their identity. They display it proudly, using large letters on their inside and outside walls, especially if they were named after an important (or wealthy and generous) person. This one doesn’t—I’ve walked its entire perimeter looking for a name.

I thought of looking it up on the university website’s interactive map, but somehow that seemed like cheating. No, I would either find the name by wandering through the building, or it would remain nameless. So when I entered, I was actively looking for a name. Hooray, I see a bronze nameplate on the wall! Perfect! Unfortunately, the nameplate was not much help.

Walking further, I found a clue. A banner on the patio outside read, “Visit the Sidewalk Café in the Emerging Technology Building”. Hmmm….could this be the Emerging Technology Building? Or is this simply an advertisement for a café on the other side of campus? To reach any other building, you must cross at least one 4-lane street, so perhaps the café is indeed here. Sure enough, as I scanned This Building’s atrium, I spotted a wheeled kiosk, shaped like a giant lunch pail with a closed lid. Lettered on its side were the words “Sidewalk Café”. This seems promising. But surely there are maroon Sidewalk Cafés scattered all over Texas A&M University—this particular Café may not be the Emerging Technology one. If I’ve learned anything in my research methods classes, it is that researchers must be careful claiming certainty. If I am going to present a conclusion as fact, it must be indisputable. I cannot yet say this is the Emerging Technology Building. All I can say is that the patio banner suggests this may be the Emerging Technology Building. I need more evidence.

There are many comfortable writing nooks in This Building. I settled myself into a circular chair at a circular table, right in front of the This Building nameplate. As I wrote, I noticed a flat-screen monitor with rotating announcements, next to a scale model of the building (nope, no building names on the scale model either). One advertised the availability of naming rights for Emerging Technology Building classrooms, and another highlighted accomplishments of faculty members within two engineering departments.

Though I still have no definitive proof, the data seem to support my hypothesis that This Building is indeed the Emerging Technology Building, home to the Biomedical Engineering and Industrial and Systems Engineering programs. Because of it, my walk from Lot 50 is a bit longer than it used to be. That’s okay—This Building is worth walking through.