It is better than it used to be, but still, there's only so much they can do. They're limited by geography (surrounded on three sides by downtown Knoxville, and the other by the river) so there's no room to expand out, only up. This also keeps open and green spaces to a minimum. They are also hampered by some pretty moronic past zoning decisions (a sewage treatment plant adjacent to campus? Really?). And then there's that fizzleing railroad that cuts the campus in two.
But even with all this working against them, they still could have done a better job- they still need more architectural cohesion. The classic brick buildings on The Hill should provide the template for the rest of the campus. Instead, we have such mismatched monstrosities as the Spam Can, McClung Tower, and TBA (maybe the nicest arena in the league now, but it's still a hulking mass of ugly on the outside). And don't get me started on the dorms (especially the Presidential Court), which look like 60's-era communist bloc housing.
