Education and healthcare architects SDS of Eau Claire and Perkins and Will of Chicago have been selected to design the $17 million University Center addition and renovation at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
The University Center project will add 43,000 square feet and renovate about half of the facility’s current 153,000 square feet. The design phase will begin next month with the start of construction in April 2006 and estimated completion of the project in fall 2007. The work will be done in phases allowing the center to remain partially open throughout the building phase.
The costs will be covered by student fees. In 2000 UWSP students approved a special fee to be assessed to students over a 20-year period to support the addition. No taxpayer dollars will be used for the project.
The addition and renovation will reallocate and add space, refurbish an aging building and make it more attractive to students, modernize kitchen and dining areas and upgrade mechanical and electrical systems. The architects have been asked to incorporate sustainability concepts such as natural light and energy efficiency into the design.
SDS designs industrial, commercial, educational, government, health care, community and religious facilities. In Central Wisconsin, it planned the Rettler Corp. building in Stevens Point, and Wausau West and Horace Mann schools in Wausau.
The university has a historical connection with Perkins and Will, an international firm, as UWSP’s original building, Old Main, was designed by its architects 110 years ago when the campus was founded. Recently Perkins and Will designed the Rennebohm School of Pharmacy building at UW-Madison.
For further information, contact Carl Rasmussen at crasmu@uwsp.edu or Susan Crotteau at scrottea@uwsp.edu.
