Although there may not be a borrowed or blue building on campus, the proximity of the new Lillis Business Complex to Deady Hall, the first building on campus, may create a visual marriage between campus history and modern innovation.
“Buildings tell us a lot about ourselves,” said architecture department head Christine Theodoropoulos. “These buildings are very much a product of their times.”
She describes Deady Hall as a distinguished masonry building that is “in expression, very much a ‘wall’ building” centering on the structure and placement of its walls.
“Fewer people were anticipated when Deady was built,” Theodoropoulos said, adding that Deady is about “intimacy and corridors.”
Construction on the University’s first building began in 1873, according to the Knight Library Web site. The University opened three years later with five faculty members and 177 students, including 98 students in the prepatory department because Eugene had no high school at the time.
The building was named for Matthew Deady in 1883, a former judge who served on the University’s Board of Regents from 1873 to 1893.
Theodoropoulos calls Lillis Hall a “frame” building.
“You can see right through the atrium to a portion of the structural form,” she said.
She said Lillis represents the growth of the University.
“Lillis is about rhythm of space,” she said. “It invites a crowd to flow through the center of the building.”
Lillis’ features include solar panels and light sensors that adjust both the motorized shades and electric lights as needed.
The 133,000 square-foot, four-story complex was also designed after the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and represents significant improvements over older, retrofitted buildings for the University’s disabled patrons.
Lillis is “clearly accessible,” Theodoropoulos said. “If you approach the front of Deady Hall, there is a different relationship in terms of design. People at that time were not thinking about that at all.”
The Lillis Business Complex opened in November 2003 after one and a half years of construction at a cost of approximately $41 million from mainly private donations.