http://www.fsunews.com/story/news/2017/12/03/union-undergo-120-million-changes/917422001/
After spring graduation in 2018, the 52-year-old Oglesby Union will undergo a massive, $120 million renovation, which will add 17,000-square-feet of space.
$50 million was raised through fundraising, while the other $70 million was provided from Florida State University Administration of Finances. None of the fees for the building were attained from student activities and services fees.
“This needs to be the coolest, eye-catching space so that every visitor that comes to this campus thinks, ‘Oh my gosh, Florida State is an amazing place,’" said Matt Ducatt, Oglesby Union Director. “This is going to be your home away from home, so you have to be able to totally engage.”
The concept is indoor-outdoor with stormproof glass walls that allow students to see what is going on inside with different groups, as well as dining areas.
“We love our building, we love our staff and we love our programs, but there is so much of the building that is not usable,” Ducatt explained.
75 percent of the Union will be new construction and the entire building will total 286,00-square-feet after completion.
FSU decided against a slow rollout and will start tearing the whole Union down after graduation in spring of 2018. The current plan is to have the new building completed for a soft opening in summer of 2020 and a fully functional union by fall 2020.
Sweta Meier from Workshop Milwaukee, a group which has done extensive work at other universities like Duke and Northwestern, is Lead Architect. Meier shared that the building will be at least LEED silver level, which is a way of grading sustainability. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design with different credential levels determined by the United States Green Building Council.
“We’ve been working on this for 12 years, but most recently since last spring,” Ducatt said.
A new 25,000-square-foot bookstore will be housed in the Union, and the old location will most likely be used for the post office as well as other retail space.
“We want to be top 25, and this is just another piece of that puzzle,” Ducatt said. “It’s really exciting. It’s going to be pretty amazing.”
http://www.fsunews.com/story/news/2017/01/08/student-union-renovation-project-officially-underway/96316854/
Rubin explained that after the demolition of Conradi and the Geological Survey building, the view of FSU from Tennessee Street changed instantly for the better. He expects the same from the reconstructed union and EOAS buildings.
“As you come down Tennessee street, we are finally going to start changing the view of campus,” explained Rubin. “Once we put a new building up in place of the Geological Survey building and we finish Phase I of the union, we will really start to change the image of FSU from Tennessee Street, and I think that will really be profound. I think it will show people that there is something going on at FSU.”
I'm excited for some better renderings. Very much looking forward to this project.
ReplyDeleteSame. HUGE improvement to campus. Odd there are better renderings.
DeleteI believe those nice renderings are only conceptual and not what it will actually look like.
DeleteBut i trust it will look nice either way.
I'm glad they're keeping an outdoor component though. I loved that Wednesday market thing and would always stop and watch the black frats stomp. I'd hate for either of those go away.
Although I'm assuming those frats are also suspended at the moment.