Have you heard the Design Center was built without an elevator? Or, how about that Iowa State students designed the building and forgot to include the restrooms in the plans? Yep, that’s why all of the restrooms are in the corners of the building.

Not.

If you have heard these tall tales of the six-story building and believed them, you’re not alone.

Since the design building was constructed and opened to students in 1978, rumors have stretched the noses of university students from all sorts of majors.

“How do you get equipment and things up to the fifth floor if you don’t have elevators?” asked Robert Baer, assistant dean of the College of Design. “I’ve never heard anything about elevators not being included. It doesn’t seem possible.”

Baer has been with the college since 1980 and knows the only reason for the location of the restrooms to be the design of the architectural firm Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck. “I know [the restrooms] are all in the corners, but I can’t believe an architectural firm would forget to put the bathrooms in,” Baer said.

Baer said the architects used every bit of space effectively. Opposite from the bathrooms are the mechanical systems which contain the heating and cooling mechanisms.

Because the building does not sit at a 90-degree angle like most buildings, there is an orientation problem, he said. “It’s hot on one side and cool on the other.”

Baer said each half has separate heating and cooling systems, as well as each being zoned differently to balance the overall temperature of the building more effectively.

All studios and offices in the building have been rewired and are Ethernet capable, he said. This, however, hasn’t been all good for the college.

“Electronic technology has taken up four studios in this building that could be used for other things to help our students have labs and to work with computers,” Baer said. Because of the computer labs, some art and design classes have been forced into other buildings.

“We’re working on proposals to get everyone back into this building, whether an addition or modifying this space in some way to try to accommodate all of the students and offer some growth,” Baer said.

With a student enrollment of nearly 1,700 students this semester, the College of Design has strived to give students a beneficial place to work and study.

The building is accessible 24 hours a day to students to accommodate their busy schedules.

So the only rumors one can believe about the design building have to be rumors of growth.

More additions of new facilities for improvement are in the future plans and things look good.

One juicy rumor heard from a pretty reliable source is that the design building is a pretty nice space to work in.