Loggia

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By definition, a loggia is an open-air breezeway in a building, and this was how the plaza of the sixth level of the Edgar A. Brown Student Union in the original Johnstone Hall complex was constructed when the "Tin Cans" were erected in 1954. An open stone-floored plaza that separated end doors for A and B-sections of Johnstone, a one-floor balcony on the west side overlooked a concrete assembly area (and part-time parking lot) in the center of the Johnstone snake.

Union offices were enclosed on the south side of the Loggia, and a ticket window was installed for distribution of passes to campus events. The need for a new distribution policy was made obvious by a near riot that occurred on January 20, 1975, during the handing out of tickets for the upcoming Maryland basketball game to be played on January 22. Glass windows at the ticket window were pushed in by the surging crowd but fortunately no injuries were recorded. Classic TAPS annual photo of the crowd shooting the bird at the photographer during this jovial-if-jammed ticket distribution can be found on page 620 in the Epilogue section of the 1975 edition of TAPS, Volume 65. In the 1970s, the Housing Office had its digs in the space on the north side of the Loggia now occupied by the Apple Store, and which for a time in the 1970s and 1980s served as the Union Gallery, an arts display space, and then as a convenience store.

For many years, this was essentially the center of campus with the Canteen below on the groundfloor fifth level, Student Locator (the phone bank) on the seventh level directly above the Loggia (television lounges were also on this level), WSBF's studios on the 8th level, along with a small College Chapel and career placement offices, and the print offices of The Tiger, TAPS, and The Chronicle on the ninth level.

The Loggia was enclosed completely during the 1974-1976 remodelling of the Union area that included the digging out of the parking/assembly area and construction of the Student Government offices and Union gamerooms.

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