Eastern Mennonite University’s 12 elevators are a vital aspect of the school’s infrastructure, but unfortunately are so often overlooked by the students and faculty on campus. We only notice them when they don’t work, make strange clunking sounds (looking at you Campus Center elevator), or take three to five business days to reach their destination. While these are significant issues and annoyances that also deserve our attention, this analysis will be focusing on an even more neglected aspect of our school’s beloved lifts: their spectacularly varied interior design.
I am by no means an interior design expert, having had no experience in the field at this point in my life. Nevertheless, I have spent a fair amount of time in these liminal spaces we call elevators and believe I am qualified enough to present this information as unbiasedly as possible. Please feel free to disagree with me. These rankings will move from worst to best.
#12 Maplewood. At time of writing, the Maplewood elevator remains broken and as such, there is no accessible interior to rank.
#11 Lehman Auditorium. There is no fully enclosed elevator in Lehman Auditorium which is why this is ranked so low. Instead, there is a short wheelchair lift which only travels a few feet. In addition, the floor is just grip treads and the walls are plain white, which I didn’t find appealing.
#10 Northlawn. The Northlawn elevator is grimy and plain. Aside from a small wooden baseboard, it seems that no effort was made in designing this space. The plain tile floors and dim fluorescent lighting make this an altogether unpleasant elevator to be in.
#9 Campus Center. The only thing this elevator has going for it is its distinctive double doors. The plain gray carpet is better than dirty tiles but certainly doesn’t look nice. The interior walls are a drab white and the fluorescent lights give off a highly unappealing yellow glow to the space.
#8 Seminary Building. Coming in only slightly above the Campus Center elevator, the elevator in the Seminary Building ekes out eighth place due to it’s blue carpet and cleaner fluorescents. Otherwise, these two are nothing special.
#7 Hillside. The elevator in Hillside is similar to the previous two in design. While we are unfortunately back to gray carpet, the elevator doors are a lovely teal from the inside, opposed to the stainless steel of the Seminary and Campus Center.The glowing up and down arrows are located inside this elevator, another notable difference. I think these two improvements provide an interesting retro vibe to the space which otherwise would be dismal and sad.
#6 Elmwood. Finally, choices have been made in the design! While undistinguished, the carpeting at least has a pattern and the cork textured wall – which we will see again in Roselawn -is an upgrade to the plain white walls of the previous four entries.
#5 Cedarwood. An outlier for elevators on campus, the elevator in Cedarwood is massive. While not necessarily a positive in itself, it does mean there is more interior to rank! The walls are a pleasant wood texture which adds a lot to the atmosphere, mixing well with the ubiquitous stainless steel baseboards. While the floors are uncarpeted tile, in such a large elevator that choice seems beneficial, adding to the modern industrial style. Plus, they’re clean.
#4 University Commons. The red and black tiles in the UC’s elevator are a unique touch. Again, I really appreciate the wood texture on the walls. In this elevator, they provide a homey feel which complements the floor colors well. The metal handles at waist height, which have previously gone unmentioned due to their uniformity in all previous elevators, this time are now symmetrically divided in twain, with two shorter bars on each of the side walls. All these elements work together well. I think it’s the most distinctive design EMU’s elevators have to offer, though it reminds me of the elevator I threw up in during high school on Election Day 2018, which is unfortunate.
#3 Roselawn. These next two entries, though different in design, are similar in quality. Roselawn’s elevator is essentially a glorified version of Elmwood’s, with the same cork-textured walls but more visually appealing, with colorful carpet and more comforting fluorescent lighting. Roselawn’s elevator is also wider than it is deep, leading to a more dynamic space where riders can stand around a corner from the doors instead of right in front of them.
#2 Science Center. This design reminds me of a dentist’s waiting room, in a good way. The walls have a textured white and gray print, one of the most ambitious and respectable design decisions made on this list. The striped carpet is also my favorite carpet pattern among all of the elevators. The entire elevator has a lighter, more welcoming feel than most.
#1 Library. Finally, at first place on this list, the penthouse of all EMU elevators: the Library. Though one of the smallest on campus, this cohesive, wood forward design looks intentionally put together, the highest achievement for elevator design in this school. Wood panels stick out from milk white walls and hover majestically above the special hardwood floors which are probably just linoleum but look a darn good treat! It reminds me of a 70s style basement. This elevator is ideal in its simplicity, a fine example of what elevators should be.
