McGregor Reflecting Pool Restoration at WSU

**belleislerunner** · April-11-12, 12:45 PM

Finally after all these years - McGregor reflecting pool will finally be restored - complete with lighting at night. Should be pretty cool... Can't wait to see the finished pics if anyone is on campus in the near term...

http://bog.wayne.edu/meetings/2012/0...2_item%20v.pdf

**EastsideAl** · April-11-12, 04:39 PM

It will be nice to have it back again. I was just in Seattle and visited Yamasaki's Pacific Science Center, with its big central reflecting pool and fountain, and thought about the smaller serene Japanese-style pool at the McGregor Center. The last time I saw it it looked like a mess and I was wondering if Wayne intended to rip it out for some other use. So, I'm very glad to hear that they have decided to repair it.

**mwilbert** · April-11-12, 06:52 PM

Excellent news. That was one of the nicest spaces at Wayne before they drained it.

**erikd** · April-11-12, 07:21 PM

This is great news. I hope they are planning on restoring the other Yamasaki pool around the DeRoy Auditorium.

**poobert** · April-11-12, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by erikd

This is great news. I hope they are planning on restoring the other Yamasaki pool around the DeRoy Auditorium.

As a Wayne State Alumni, I love the campus, but a few things baffle me.

First are all the dried up moats and fountains filled with dead leaves. Come on. Shitty looking. Glad they're starting to get it together.

Then the pedestrian malls have a ridiculous amount of automobile traffic. We just can-never-break with driving everywhere in this city, I guess.

**JBMcB** · April-11-12, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

First are all the dried up moats and fountains filled with dead leaves. Come on. Shitty looking. Glad they're starting to get it together.

When I attended, for every maintenance guy I saw working, there would be two or three standing around doing nothing. I personally knew a janitor who bragged that if he would mop the floor of more than a single room, it was a busy day. I hope that they have since cracked down on this attitude.

Then the pedestrian malls have a ridiculous amount of automobile traffic. We just can-never-break with driving everywhere in this city, I guess.

Yeah this was kinda bizarre. Cops and those mini-trucks whizzing up and down Gullen all day.

Fantastic news about the pools. They tried filling it one summer when I attended, but had to drain it after a month - I think it was leaking into the basement or something. Not soon after that they stopped filling the pool around DeRoy as well. This was in the late 90's...

**Jason** · April-11-12, 10:23 PM

Thank goodness. I don't know what they were thinking leaving them empty for so long. First, those should be some of the nicest parts of campus [[with them filled), and second because abandoned/under maintained/no attention to details is a really horrible message to send, especially when you're trying to combat perceptions of being in Detroit.

**Gistok** · April-11-12, 10:30 PM

Originally Posted by mwilbert

Excellent news. That was one of the nicest spaces at Wayne before they drained it.

They didn't drain it.... lol... it drained itself.... the $1.7 million they're spending to fix it includes money to redo the concrete base and put in modern sealing agents. Apparently after many years it proverbially "couldn't hold water"...

**mwilbert** · April-12-12, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

They didn't drain it.... lol... it drained itself.... the $1.7 million they're spending to fix it includes money to redo the concrete base and put in modern sealing agents. Apparently after many years it proverbially "couldn't hold water"...

I believe they drained it because it leaks. Almost the same, but not quite. However, it does leak, and they are apparently planning to fix it.

**drjeff** · April-12-12, 10:33 AM

I'm very happy about this. WSU has a lot of beautiful features on campus that have not seen any kind of maintenance in years if not decades. It makes a big difference.