University of Oregon Design and Construction are beginning summer construction across campus with the goal of restoring old buildings and completing other smaller projects.
Design and Construction is a “service-oriented organization, operating with the objective of advocating the University’s Mission to be a preeminent and innovative public research university,” according to the Campus Planning and Facilities Management website.
This summer, Design and Construction has approximately four large construction projects planned.These projects are the deferred maintenance of the Knight Library exterior, University and Villard halls and the science complex, in addition to Knight Campus Phase II, Tom Shepard, senior associate director of capital projects, said.
Bruce Budzik, small projects and capital improvements manager said “Deferred maintenance projects help rectify some lingering concerns. As an example, there might be roof leaks, and so we replace the roof. Now the roof isn’t leaking, and that has an impact on students in that their classes won’t get interrupted. It’s really important that we keep these buildings functioning at a high level.”
The first large summer construction project is Phase II of the Knight Library Exterior Restoration Project. In Phase I, Design and Construction restored the grand entry doors, the “big heavy ones,” Budzik said.
“We had to rebuild and restore those cast bronze grates and the doors… those doors used to be really hard to open,” Budzik said. “Now they swing real easily and they’re all brought up to almost like new standards.”
In Phase II, Design and Construction will repair all the brickwork, replace some of the roof and more. The project is expected to be finished by December of this year.
“We [Design and Construction] make sure that the work we do to restore them doesn’t damage that historic aesthetic and functionality,” Budzik said.
Design and Construction will also continue the Heritage Project, the deferred maintenance and historic preservation of University and Villard Halls. The university closed these buildings in 2020 for repairs. Shepard said the buildings will open again in summer 2025.
Some students said they were glad Design and Construction is working hard to restore the old buildings while keeping the historic facade.
Freshman Lauren Kazelskis said that “it’s important to keep those buildings that came here first in good shape so that we can keep using them.”
Sophomore Cannon Astor agreed with Kazelskis and also liked that Design and Construction is restoring the original material used to construct the buildings.
“I was thinking they [Design and Construction] were going to replace a bunch of stuff and modernize it,” Kazelskis said. “But I’m hearing that they’re restoring it back to what it was. That’s really nice.”
In addition to the larger projects are smaller projects, like a new East Asian collection at Knight Library. However, students are most excited about the installation of the duck statue in the Lillis Hall courtyard.
“I think [the statue] would be really cool to have over there, especially where when you get out of the library, you can look across and just see that. I think that would be neat,” Kazelskis said.
Kazelskis added that having another duck statue closer to central campus would make it more accessible
“[The statue] gives people a spot to take pictures, like when students are visiting campus,” she said. “It would be a good idea, because I feel like the one by Matthew Knight is maybe a little bit far, so having one on campus would be really nice.”
Design and Construction will begin their construction projects this summer and will navigate around the Olympic Trials. Shepard said the projects will not impact campus much, so students can continue to use the campus without obstructions.
