Students, faculty, and staff enjoy a familiarity and camaraderie unlike that of other majors because of their shared European experiences and size of the school. However, it isn't just the architecture students who enjoy Bond Hall. The lobby acoustics are so good that the Notre Dame Glee Club sometimes practices in it, while the Notre Dame Marching Band holds concerts on the front steps every football weekend. Students from other colleges also come to study in our wonderful library or use the computer cluster in the lower level. As befits the home of a well respected Classical Architecture program, Bond Hall is a traditional building with classical detailing.
Students looking for inspiration can find it merely by looking around the school.
The Steps of Bond Hall Most of the activity at Bond Hall takes place either in the studios or on and around the front steps of the building. During good weather students can be seen eating lunch, sunbathing, sketching, reading the paper, or socializing on the steps, while spirited games of hacky-sack, frisbee, and football take place on the pavement and grass in front. When projects are in full swing students are also seen napping on the steps between classes or slurping caffiene from Cafe Poche and impromptu dance parties occur late at night when students are working late instead of out partying with their friends. On the infrequent warm sunny South Bend days, the warm stone is an ideal place to enjoy the weather, which is why some of our favorite professors occassionally hold lecture classes on the front steps in warm weather, often drawing on the granite or limestone in chalk to illustrate a point. Cold weather has a tendency to clear the steps of students, except during heavy snowfall when giant snowball fights take place.