- “Escalators” (pronounced ES-kuh-LA-tors) like the ones seen here, are often used to carry people from one floor of a building to another.
The up escalator connecting the second and third floors of the Vertical Campus began moving last week, to the shock of many at Baruch College, in the Gramercy neighborhood of Manhattan.
“We were never warned,” complained Hu Isit, a freshman source fabrication. “One day we just showed up for class and it was working.”
Others shared the same sentiment as Mr. Hu.
Kinda Dum, a sophomore majoring in sarcasm, lamented, “I’ll miss walking up that escalator as if it were stairs. At least the ones to the fourth and fifth floors are still immobile.”
Installed as an interactive sculpture in 2001 when the building was completed, the escalators were never intended to carry people from one floor to another. Rather, as stairs built to look like escalators, Artisto Bodisto, the sculptor who oversaw the multimillion-dollar installation, wanted students to be constantly reminded of their upward climb toward educational greatness. He is currently installing a sculpture in the cafeteria that looks like an oven, but when you turn the dials, it leaves any food you put inside of it cold and raw.
“This flies in the face of everything I stand for as an artist,” Mr. Bodisto declared, throwing his beret on the floor and stomping on it. “To have an escalator that moves is so…gauche.”
Baruch College administrators defended their decision to “repair” the sculpture. Director of Maintenance Jimmy Fixit said, “Well it was there and it has moving parts, so we figured we might as well make it move.”
While many students will miss walking to the third floor, others take solace in the building’s amenities that remain.
Dr. Lance Walkalot, adjunct professor of irony, was about to step onto the escalator when he looked down at the last second and noticed it would carry him effortlessly to where he needed to go. He turned around and made his way to the elevator instead. “At least I can still wait forever at an elevator that’s supposed to be express and then walk one flight up or two flights down to my floor,” he said.
Wendy Lungs, an undeclared senior, arrived at the sixth floor barely even breathing hard. Still, she remained upbeat. “I especially enjoy how the escalator installation ends altogether on the fifth floor so I have to walk clear across the building to continue up,” she lauded. “It gives me a perspective on the architecture and my whole educational experience.”
Perhaps Ms. Lungs next comment summed up general mood of the day best: “I think [the Vertical Campus] speaks to the genius of the architect. With the cardio workout I get climbing to class, and the time I waste crisscrossing the building, it’s like a gym, an exasperation garden, and a school all in one.”