Fine Arts Design Firm Selected

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point officials received notification today that the design firm of Hammel, Green and Abrahamson (HGA) was selected as the designers of the proposed $21.5 million Fine Arts Center remodeling and addition. The firm was selected from a field of four interviewed by the State Division of Facilities Development in mid-April.

HGA is a nationally recognized firm with experience in a wide variety of building types, including campus planning and design, many fine arts projects and other education, healthcare, corporate, cultural and community facilities. The 450-employee firm has offices located in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Minn., Rochester, Minn., and Sacramento, Calif. The Milwaukee office with more than 50 employees will serve in the lead capacity for the course of the project.

Similar fine arts projects recently completed by HGA include a $21 million Center for the Arts at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind.; a $17 million Performing Arts Center at the University of Northern Iowa; and the $11 million Tedd Mann Concert Hall at the University of Minnesota. A $14 million Performing Arts Center at Illinois State University, Normal, Ill., is scheduled to be completed this fall and a $30 million University Concert Hall at Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla., will be completed in the summer of 2001.

A kick-off design meeting will be scheduled within the next few weeks at UWSP to go over the scope of the project with the Fine Arts Building committee. A contract for design services will then be negotiated with the state. Significant design work should begin by midsummer.

HGA will be responsible for developing initial designs, determining the location of the addition, creating possible construction phasing options and establishing a detailed construction budget. All effort is targeted on having a firm construction estimate available for review next spring when Wisconsin’s 2001-2003 Capital Budget is created.

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The anticipated 70,000 gross addition will increase the current 107,000 square foot building by almost two thirds. With city streets bordering the Fine Arts Center on both the west and south sides, Campus Planner Carl Rasmussen states, "the only area for expansion is go east, north, or up. The final project will probably involve some combination of all three."

Rasmussen adds, "We feel there is limited buildable space toward Specht Forum or "sundial" without affecting views of the mural located on the College of Natural Resources Building. An equal amount of space exists to the north without significantly affecting current parking or underground utilities in the former Franklin Street right of way. It will not be an easy fit, however."

Other firms interviewed for the project included William Wenzler Associates, Zimmerman Design Group, and Engberg Anderson Design Partnership, all from the Milwaukee area. The four firms were selected from a field of ten that submitted qualification material to the Wisconsin State Division of Facilities Development (DFD).

"All of the firms were extremely well qualified," said Dean McKenna, "Our campus would have been well served by any of the four."

"Funding for the project is still not assured," states McKenna. "We need the design and detailed budget and then a whole lot of support in order to be included in the 2001-2003 State Capital Budget which will be reviewed by the State Building Commission next spring."

For further information:

UWSP Planner, Carl Rasmussen, (715) 346-2781

Fine Arts Dean Gerald McKenna, (715) 346-4920

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