I’ve really taken to Washington Quad, the lush new green space on South Campus between Knox Road and the Memorial Chapel. It’s exciting to see how successful this formerly unused space has become. Everything happens on Washington Quad: volleyball, picnics, clandestine hookah-smoking, post-bar yelling, walks of shame. Indeed, it’s become the new place to see and be seen.

But you won’t find anyone taking the walk of shame in another new space on South Campus that opened this summer. We’ll call it Van Munching Mall, in a nod to the gigantic business school that lines most of this new lawn near Mowatt Lane Garage. Is it pretty? Of course. Those trees look like they’ve been there for decades, and the brick sidewalks are cleaned so often you wonder if it’s just to give somebody a job to do. Everything’s there – that is, everything except for people.

It’s not like people never walk through Van Munching Mall. You’ve got one of the university’s biggest schools fronting the space, not to mention a large parking garage and several dorms. Just a little farther away are the Art/Sociology Building, South Campus Commons Buildings and Hillel, whose services draw many, many people across this mall every Friday night. So why aren’t people sticking around?

Let’s compare this space to McKeldin Mall, which is, of course, considered to be the largest academic mall in the nation, a full six inches longer than that of runner-up University of Virginia. It’s a lot bigger and a lot busier than Van Munching Mall, but it’s a good example of what a college quad should look like.

For starters, McKeldin Mall has the sundial, a central focal point that’s a popular place for people to meet. Van Munching’s clock tower hangs off the end of the space, like an exclamation point for the business school. No one would meet there because walking there would take you out of your way. Also, there’s just one door to the business school, and it’s down there by the clock tower. Business majors, by far the largest potential contributor of life to this space, don’t have to enter the mall to go to class.

What would make Van Munching Mall more active? Barbecue grills and a volleyball court might be inappropriate for an academic quad, but putting out more benches and even tables would draw people into the space. Direct entrances from the adjacent dorms and another entrance from Van Munching Hall will encourage people who’d otherwise be too lazy to walk around the building to come outside. And programmed events in the space – such as performances, demonstrations or even a Frisbee tournament – would give people a solid reason to come by.

The success of Washington Quad shows how bad South Campus needs more open space, and useful open space, at that. Pretty as it may be, Van Munching Mall and the buildings that surround it prevent people from spending any meaningful time there. But with a few minor improvements, there might be life on the new mall when the weather gets nice again.

Dan Reed is a senior architecture and English major. He can be reached at reeddbk@gmail.com.