Hidden Gems of Georgia Tech
By: Jennifer Herseim and Matt Sowell | Categories: Alumni Association News
The Institute is brimming with hidden gems—some are secret delights appreciated by those in the know, while others hide in plain sight, waiting to be discovered. Several are relics of Georgia Tech’s rich history (Daisy’s apartment and the stands underneath Bobby Dodd Stadium). Others reflect Tech’s student body (the retroTECH lab in the library). A few are actual gems (Wallace Coulter’s personal jade collection). And one might only be considered a gem to a single alumna (the wall phone at the bottom of the Ford ES&T Building). Each one, however, serves as a reminder that there is always more to discover at Georgia Tech.
The Tunnels Beneath the Bioquad
Walking through the BioQuad courtyard, you’d never suspect that large equipment was moving beneath your feet through a system of labyrinthine tunnels. If you enter the tunnels at the Ford Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T) Building, you could walk to the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB) and the U.A. Whitaker Biomedical and Engineering Building without ever stepping outside. The wide underground tunnels were designed to allow researchers to transport equipment, such as incubators, from one building to the next.
History Under Bobby Dodd Stadium
Below the stands of Bobby Dodd Stadium lies a stone relic of Tech’s past—the original West Stands, which were built in 1913. As the stadium above underwent renovations over the years, the original stands have remained hidden underneath.
Playground for Retro Tech Lovers
Power up a Macintosh Performa 550 and be transported back to 1994 with its iconic startup chime. Or test your Mario Kart skills on an original Super Nintendo console from 1992. The Georgia Tech Library’s retroTECH Lab on the third floor of Crosland Tower offers visitors an opportunity to interact with vintage technologies from the slide rule to the Altair 8800 (the same type of microcomputer that Bill Gates used to write BASIC programming language) or more recent technology like a PlayStation 4.
A Gem That is No Longer
For many years, the “Wreck Graveyard” was a place for contraptions of all shapes and kinds to wait until next year’s Ramblin’ Wreck Parade to find a new life as a pirate ship, a fire-breathing dragon, or any number of possible contraptions. The space has been cleared out (R.I.P.), but here is an image of what once existed near Sixth Street and Techwood Drive.
An International Student's Secret Wall Phone
For Shikha Goodwin, MS ChE 05, her hidden gem was a wall phone at the bottom of the Ford ES&T building (still in place, but no longer free). One evening during her last months in grad school, she discovered a secret. “I feel bad even admitting this now, so many years later,” Goodwin says. “But I picked up the phone and it had a dial tone, so I just punched in my family’s number back home in India, and it worked!” As an international student on a scholarship, Goodwin was extremely thrifty. She remembers spending $4 once for tomatoes at a farmers’ market and crying over the cost on the bus ride home. At the time, calling her family cost 49 cents a minute. “I used to end the call at 59 seconds so I wouldn’t have to pay for the next minute!” she recalls. So finding a phone that allowed her to call home for free was a godsend. “This phone meant so much to me at that time,” she says. “When I think about how that phone created a connection for me during a difficult time at Tech, it makes me want to be that connection for other international students who are there today. To pay it forward for them,” she says.
