Construction will soon begin on a new building University architecture students will call home.
The University is currently moving through the planning stages for a new facility to house its next generation of Architecture and Allied Arts students, adding to the University’s decade-long list of building renovations that have totaled $845 million.
As part of the design process, the design team will conduct research on how current AAA programs, facilities and services are meeting the needs of burgeoning student architects as they continue to push the engineering envelope. The team will also examine how design environments are conducive to new methods of learning and research, and how curricula should be updated to fit the new learning environment.
AAA faculty and administrators agree Lawrence Hall has ceased to meet the growing needs of students and are hopeful that the hired design team will deliver solutions.
“The School of Architecture and Allied Arts needs a new facility, and I’m pleased that we’re beginning the process with a thoughtful vision plan led by an excellent team,” AAA Dean Frances Bronet said. “The team’s collective, recognized knowledge in sustainability, international engagement, discipline-specific and cross-disciplinary education (was) essential in moving the selection committee forward to consensus.”
The University has assembled a team of design and engineering companies headed by international design firm Bruce Mau Design of Toronto and Chicago to develop a strategic and innovative blueprint for the school’s future stomping ground of visual and structural artists. Joining Bruce Mau Design is Los Angeles-based architecture laboratory Yazdani Studio, as well as the international engineering firm Arup, an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists.
The University received 24 submissions from a global pool of qualified design firms back in September, and a selection team was formed of AAA department heads and program directors, as well as representatives from the University’s Campus Planning and Real Estate department. Working together, these entities from within the school gave their input.
“The UO campus has gone through an exciting transformation in recent years, and it will continue with current projects and a future project for the School of Architecture and Allied Arts,” said Christopher Ramey, associate vice president for Campus Planning and Real Estate.
The new facility’s construction will be bankrolled with a new University fund, which is a general pool established to help finance the planning of campus projects. AAA is the first campus body to make use of the investment funds, which must be eventually repaid and made available for other planning projects.
“It is (a pool) of funds that are made available if a unit on campus wants to embark on a project like this,” University spokesperson Julie Brown said.
Though the planning process is still in its infant stages and specific sites are yet to be considered, the University recently completed a reuse study of McArthur Court using the AAA’s plan as a hypothetical example.
“(Mac Court) is one of the sites that is being considered,” Brown said. “The study (focused on) if it would be possible to retrofit and building for an academic purpose.”
University junior and architecture major Stephanie Johnson agrees with Bronet that AAA students are starting to grow out of Lawrence Hall.
“It would be nice to have a new place because Lawrence is such a chaotic building.” Johnson said. “Everyone is so dispersed, it’s hard to get collaboration.”
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