2008 Woodie Awards
IMU goes new
Susan Elgin - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 1/18/07 Section: 80 Hours
- Page 1 of 1
As you walk into the basement of the IMU, the chatter of students is eerily missing. The dim lighting glistens on the freshly painted black walls. Spotlights shine down on pennants from rival schools, while frames of varying colors and sizes showcase the university's long history in athletics. In one picture, Iowa legend Hayden Fry is busy coaching the team, with young Kirk Ferentz staring out at the field from the sidelines, an odd premonition of Hawkeye football's future years ago. In another, the women's track team races to the finish line in long dresses and clunky shoes - uniforms that today's athletes couldn't imagine competing in.
Back by the windows, pool tables crowd the outer walls of the large room. The yellow felt is in mint condition, with a black Tigerhawk adorning the center. Above the tables, yellow and black stained-glass bar lamps hang from the low ceiling. Flat-screen TVs hang from the walls, making it impossible to be anywhere in the room without a view of the game. Ping-Pong and Foosball tables flank the sides of the pool tables, creating a long line of entertainment possibilities waiting for students.
This isn't a hip new sports bar in Iowa City. It's the Wheelroom - no wait, make that the "Hawkeye" - in the IMU where Pura Vida was previously located. Newly remodeled and renamed, the space in the IMU provides an intentionally bar-like setting - trading alcohol and smoke for free popcorn and Cokes - for students, said David Grady, the IMU director.
"You don't miss the mural, do you?" he joked, referring to the collage painting of distorted figures that previously covered the walls of the room located in opposite the Union Station. Gone are the blue walls, early '90s mauve chairs for sleeping, and plastic chairs and tables for studying.
Also missing is the notorious stage, which previously occupied the center of the room, awkwardly standing empty 99 per cent of time. Now, the stage can be wheeled in and out of the room for events, but SCOPE will likely no longer host shows in the space, as it previously did once or twice a semester.
"Sometimes, you can get a cool show before [the group is] huge, and we won't have that opportunity" now that the Wheelroom has been made-over as a dry sports bar, said SCOPE's director of operations, Andrew Stone. The Wheelroom hosted only one concert last year: OK Go. But all the same, Stone said, "smaller shows have never been our focus."
As a member of the IMU Entertainment Committee, which spurred many of the changes to the Wheelroom, he feels the space will help change students' perception of the IMU as a place for offices, not entertainment. SCOPE will be able to offer some shows that would have previously been held in the Wheelroom in the ballroom - or in the new blackbox theater. Also located in the renovated IMU, the venue will have a capacity of 150 and will open in late February, Grady said.
A major reason SCOPE will no longer produce concerts in the Hawkeye Room is to always keep the space free and available to students. Nor will Campus Activities Board movies or other programming seize the space, said IMU marketing and creativity coordinator Bret Gothe. Instead, students can generate opportunities for the room's use, and Grady said he hopes to see students gathering to watch must-see TV and games.
So this raises the question: Will students buy into the idea of this revamped room as a legitimate replacement for downtown Iowa City nightlife?
Stone thinks so.
"There's a perception that drinking is everything and that there are not a lot of other options," he said. "There are bars, coffee shops - and then a void. With a room such as this, there's no pressure to be quiet. It will definitely give students another choice that doesn't have competition anywhere around campus, now."
After the grand opening scheduled for Friday, the room, currently silent (with the exception of construction drills), may be filled with the plicking and clicking of pool balls, the plancks of Ping-Pong balls, and the laughter of students.
E-mail DI reporter Susan Elgin at:
susan-elgin@uiowa.edu
Want to exercise your curiosity in a rewarding setting? Write for the Daily Iowan Arts & Culture section! The editors are currently accepting applications for reporting positions. All you need is a cover letter, a resume, a letter of recommendation - and some samples of your best writing. If you're interested, get all the details and download your application here
Want to know more?
See photos, get answers to questions, or watch a "Renovation Webcam" at the IMU's webpage dedicated to the building's reconfiguration.
CAB's site has a list of upcoming events at the "new" IMU.
Back by the windows, pool tables crowd the outer walls of the large room. The yellow felt is in mint condition, with a black Tigerhawk adorning the center. Above the tables, yellow and black stained-glass bar lamps hang from the low ceiling. Flat-screen TVs hang from the walls, making it impossible to be anywhere in the room without a view of the game. Ping-Pong and Foosball tables flank the sides of the pool tables, creating a long line of entertainment possibilities waiting for students.
This isn't a hip new sports bar in Iowa City. It's the Wheelroom - no wait, make that the "Hawkeye" - in the IMU where Pura Vida was previously located. Newly remodeled and renamed, the space in the IMU provides an intentionally bar-like setting - trading alcohol and smoke for free popcorn and Cokes - for students, said David Grady, the IMU director.
"You don't miss the mural, do you?" he joked, referring to the collage painting of distorted figures that previously covered the walls of the room located in opposite the Union Station. Gone are the blue walls, early '90s mauve chairs for sleeping, and plastic chairs and tables for studying.
Also missing is the notorious stage, which previously occupied the center of the room, awkwardly standing empty 99 per cent of time. Now, the stage can be wheeled in and out of the room for events, but SCOPE will likely no longer host shows in the space, as it previously did once or twice a semester.
"Sometimes, you can get a cool show before [the group is] huge, and we won't have that opportunity" now that the Wheelroom has been made-over as a dry sports bar, said SCOPE's director of operations, Andrew Stone. The Wheelroom hosted only one concert last year: OK Go. But all the same, Stone said, "smaller shows have never been our focus."
As a member of the IMU Entertainment Committee, which spurred many of the changes to the Wheelroom, he feels the space will help change students' perception of the IMU as a place for offices, not entertainment. SCOPE will be able to offer some shows that would have previously been held in the Wheelroom in the ballroom - or in the new blackbox theater. Also located in the renovated IMU, the venue will have a capacity of 150 and will open in late February, Grady said.
A major reason SCOPE will no longer produce concerts in the Hawkeye Room is to always keep the space free and available to students. Nor will Campus Activities Board movies or other programming seize the space, said IMU marketing and creativity coordinator Bret Gothe. Instead, students can generate opportunities for the room's use, and Grady said he hopes to see students gathering to watch must-see TV and games.
So this raises the question: Will students buy into the idea of this revamped room as a legitimate replacement for downtown Iowa City nightlife?
Stone thinks so.
"There's a perception that drinking is everything and that there are not a lot of other options," he said. "There are bars, coffee shops - and then a void. With a room such as this, there's no pressure to be quiet. It will definitely give students another choice that doesn't have competition anywhere around campus, now."
After the grand opening scheduled for Friday, the room, currently silent (with the exception of construction drills), may be filled with the plicking and clicking of pool balls, the plancks of Ping-Pong balls, and the laughter of students.
E-mail DI reporter Susan Elgin at:
susan-elgin@uiowa.edu
Want to exercise your curiosity in a rewarding setting? Write for the Daily Iowan Arts & Culture section! The editors are currently accepting applications for reporting positions. All you need is a cover letter, a resume, a letter of recommendation - and some samples of your best writing. If you're interested, get all the details and download your application here
Want to know more?
See photos, get answers to questions, or watch a "Renovation Webcam" at the IMU's webpage dedicated to the building's reconfiguration.
CAB's site has a list of upcoming events at the "new" IMU.
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