Content area
Full text
When University of Oregon students last year rejected a proposal for a fee increase to pay for a renovation and expansion of the student union, SERA Architects Inc. had to create a more affordable project.
As a result, the Portland-based firm developed a more cohesive design for the Erb Memorial Union, senior project designer Walker Templeton said. Reducing the project scope to fit a student-approved, $98 million budget changed the interaction between different parts of the building, he said.
"Originally, we had a little bit too much emphasis on the new," he said. "Now the focus shifted to that intersection between the old and new."
A central glass atrium will form a connection between the original building constructed in 1950 and the expansion, Templeton said. This element harks back to the tall windows of the EMU Fishbowl dining area, he said.
"We've taken that same vocabulary," he said. "This will be the place to see and be seen."
The design aims to make the building's often confusing layout more navigable and provide more visibility to student groups that have been tucked into the basement and other hard-to-find spots, Templeton said.
"We are shooting for extremely efficient," he said. "They'll get twice as much usable space."
In spring 2012, UO students voted...