With a mission of preserving campus beauty and ensuring capacity for future growth, the University Planning Department strives to create ideal spaces for teaching and learning. Always a work in progress, the University consistently has renovations, upgrades and expansions throughout campus.
Erb Memorial Union
Last year, several groups scattered to temporary locations in the EMU while extensive renovations were done throughout the building.
The Mills International Center, formerly known as the International Resource Center, just moved into its remodeled facility on the mezzanine level.
Similarly, the expansion project at the Club Sports office is scheduled to be completed by the end of the month, while the east side elevator should be running by early October.
Ford Alumni Center
As president of the University of Oregon Alumni Association, Cheryl Ramberg Ford, a 1966 graduate, feels that it’s important for alumni to stay involved with the University.
So last June, she and her husband, Roseburg Forest Products President Allyn Ford, made a $5 million lead donation to kickstart an alumni center for the University.
Named for the generous Roseburg couple, the Ford Alumni Center will inhabit what is currently an employee parking lot on Franklin Boulevard between East 13th Avenue and Agate Street.
“It will be home to the alumni offices, and to the department of development and the University foundation,” said Chris Ramey, senior director and architect for the University Planning Office.
The future home base to University alumni will also house space for meeting and socializing.
The specific construction timeline is not yet determined, but the architects from Fletcher Farr Ayotte in Portland are under contract.
“They’ve begun to work, so the design is underway,” Ramey said.
Friendly and Susan Campbell Halls
With Oregon’s tendency to rain a lot, Friendly and Susan Campbell Halls, both old buildings, have suffered water damage.
“It was a constant seepage, so it made things smell moldy and musty,” said Darin Dehle, capital construction manager for the University.
Almost immediately following the spring quarter, similar construction projects started at both buildings to rectify the problem and prevent it from happening in the future.
“Some of the waterproofing is a liquid asphalt that you apply to the concrete that seals it from the outside,” Dehle explained.
After excavation, there were also protective sheets stuck to the foundation wall, as well as insulated boards to keep them from being pierced by dirt and rocks when the hole is refilled.
The waterproofing project will be finished at the end of this month.
Hayward Field
With Track Town USA hosting next summer’s U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, Hayward Field will be getting a $7.93 million makeover over the next year in preparation.
There will be the temporary addition of 5,000 seats to accommodate the expected daily crowds of 15,000, but most of the renovations will be permanent.
Construction has already begun, and Hayward Field currently has new electrical infrastructure and lighting, as well as a walkway behind the west grandstand.
The next heat of enhancements, including repainting, operations booth remodeling and various track reconstruction, is projected to be finished in October.
The next phase of renovations includes new fencing, pavement improvements, renovated restrooms and a brand new, state-of-the-art video scoreboard.
Knight Law Center
Despite being eight years old, the Knight Law Center was already starting to show signs of aging. But now that the roof is no longer filled with construction workers, it looks as good as new.
The building has gabled ends – the triangular portion of a wall between the lines of a sloping roof – which have wide caps. When rained on, the gabled ends result in water running down the front of the building, creating black streaks.
“What they’re doing up there was taking these caps off and canting them, tilting, so they lead onto the roof, rather than the front,” explained School of Law Building Manager Jim Horstrup.
Shortly after the project was completed, the next one began: pressure washing and resealing. Due to finish in October, the pressure washing will remove dirt and debris from the building’s exterior, while the resealing will keep it from being able to work its way back in.
“The building looks nicer for a lot longer,” Horstrup said, of the project’s benefits. “A whole lot longer.”
Lillis Business Complex
After spending most of the last year caged behind a fence, the newly-renovated Peterson Hall was just completed.
“We very nearly gutted the building to make it strong enough in an earthquake so that people won’t die,” said project manager Fred Tepfer, a planning associate with the University.
With refurbished classrooms and new technology, Peterson Hall, part of the Lillis Business Complex, is completely different. There are also administrative offices, resource rooms and a computer lab as part of the new center for Lundquist College of Business graduate programs.
“It’s almost as if a new building was inserted into an older building,” Tepfer said.
Next for the Lillis Business Complex is an update on Gilbert Hall, for which money is still being raised.
With occupancy expected next winter, Gilbert Hall will primarily consist of classrooms, faculty offices and meeting spaces.
Lorry I. Lokey Laboratory
To the naked eye, a skylight protruding from the grass will be the only sign of the underground Lorry I. Lokey Laboratory, which is set to open later this fall.
Connected to Huestis Hall, the Lokey Lab is designed to be an on-campus component of the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute, the statewide nanoscience initiative partly responsible for its funding. The $16 million laboratory was also bankrolled by private donors, most notably Lorry I. Lokey, the Bay Area philanthropist for whom it is named.
When construction for the integrative science complex began last summer, workers from Lease Crutcher Lewis Builders in Portland removed 10 feet of soil and 12 feet of bedrock to make room for the 30,000-square-foot facility.
Situated underground to protect the sensitive science equipment from external vibrations, the Lokey Lab and its instruments will be available to all University students.
School of Music and Dance
The University’s School of Music and Dance may look like a mess of dirt, cinder blocks and cement trucks, but not for much longer.
Five years after BOORA architects, along with officials from both the University Planning Office and the School of Music, developed the design, the final product is scheduled to be unveiled in September 2008.
In addition to extensive renovations of the MarAbel B. Fronhmayer Music Building, there will be 29,000 square feet of new additions.
Enclosing the courtyard, the three-story Leona DeArmond Academic Wing will boast technology-equipped classrooms, student practice rooms, a study lounge and faculty teaching studios, as well as space for the Community Music Institute.
Tied into the existing performance wing, the new Thelma Schnitzer Performance Wing is to feature space for rehearsing, practicing, teaching, recording and performing.
In addition to several renovations, there will be 29,000 square feet of new construction, including a piano tech shop, a computer lab, a centralized score library, acoustically-isolated faculty studios, and space for classes, rehearsals and recitals.
“The last addition was in the 1970s, so we’ve waited all this time,” said assistant to the dean Janet Stewart. “It expands our programs and upgrades the quality of our ability to teach and to perform.”
Theater Arts Department
With the current facilities deemed
obsolete, the Miller Theatre will put the University’s theater productions on the map when it’s unveiled next summer.
Excavation is scheduled to begin in early November.
“All this depends so much on the weather, but the actual construction phase should begin in late November,” said theater arts department head John Schmor.
An addition to Villard Hall, the $7.9 million Miller Theater will be a complex of three theaters, in addition to lobbies, shops, studios and teaching space.
The existing buildings will also be revamped. A new acting studio is in the works for Villard Hall, while Robinson Theater will be renovated for the first time since its 1948 inception.
“It’ll be as big a transformation as this department has ever seen,” Schmor said. “It’ll change our curriculum for sure.”