Brittain Dining Hall is the primary dining hall of East Campus at the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part ...

. Dedicated in name of Marion L. Brittain, it serves as the primary dining location for all Freshman Experience and Area II housing residents. It is located between Techwood Drive and Williams Street, facing

Bobby Dodd Stadium Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue at Techwood Drive on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It has been home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets foo ...

to its west.

History

While it was partially funded by the state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, a large part of the funding for Brittain Dining Hall came from the Athletic Association and the Georgia Tech Expansion Fund. Opened in 1928, it was a joint effort of many of Tech's departments: The building cost $418,000 to construct and was designed by the architects Bush-Brown & Gailey. Brittain Dining Hall was renovated in 1964, 1999, 2002, and again in summer 2007. During the 2007 heatwave, Brittain Dining Hall went trayless to conserve water due to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

's severe water shortage.

Architecture

Brittain is based around two large wings that serve as dining areas. Patrons enter from the western entrance and serve themselves via the buffet. In between the two wings there is a staircase that leads up to a lobby, which overlooks the two wings and leads to the President's Dining Room. The President's Dining Room looks out on to the western lawn of Brittain, and was originally designed for serving the Institute's president and visiting dignitaries but was eventually converted to a dining area. In recent years however, there has once more been a restriction on the use of this second floor dining area because of the tendency of the Institute's students to put new meaning to "food on the fly". The southern wing is highlighted by a large

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window designed by Julian Harris. The window was dedicated to Georgia Tech graduating classes of 1928-1932. The entrance is marked by a Georgia School of Technology floor seal showing the age of Brittain Hall. The back of Brittain dubbed "Brittain Rec" serves as the laundromat and meeting place for the Freshman Experience Program. Brittain Rec is divided into a Buzz Card activated laundry room, BuzzBy, East Side Market, and a ballroom for events.

Innovator dedications

Brittain Hall's Western Side faces Techwood Drive and Bobby Dodd Stadium. This side is the only entrance for patrons and features ten

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

pillars emblazoned with stylized busts of ten famous scientific minds and the fields to which they contributed; these are fields that were present at Georgia Tech during Brittain's 1928 construction.

Civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

, and

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

are represented by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...

Ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

is represented by

Luca della Robbia Luca della Robbia (, also , ; 1399/1400–1482) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence. Della Robbia is noted for his colorful, tin-glazed terracotta statuary, a technique which he invented and passed on to his nephew Andrea dell ...

Textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

is represented by

Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney hi ...

Electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

is represented by

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

and the

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

are represented by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

is represented by

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientis ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

is represented by

Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

are represented by

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, Theology, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosophy, natural philosopher"), widely ...

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

is represented by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

is represented by

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

Public reception

While Brittain Dining Hall caters to the nutritional needs of thousands of students weekly, it is largely regarded as the most inferior eatery on campus. Despite the generally cordial staff, an overwhelming lack of variety contributes to this perception. Students will often seek dining alternatives such as Buzzby, the Student Center food court, and various other dining locations on and off campus.

References

External links

Campus Map: Brittain Dining Hall
{{Georgia Tech Navbox Buildings and structures completed in 1928 Georgia Tech buildings and structures