By Nathanael Enwald
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) unveiled
its current plans to build a new $75 million science building at the Monday,
Jan. 5, Stevens Point City Plan Commission meeting.
“This (project) has been six years in some serious making –
some would say another generation to make happen – but we’ve been through space
planning, we’ve gone through pre-design functions, we’ve gone through the
capital budget process and now we’re here with a design concept that has
reached the 35-percent stage,” said Carl Rasmussen, UWSP campus planner. “We’ll
hopefully target ground-breaking in the fall (of 2015), right now we’re saying
October and we’re going to hold to that.”
“We’re trying to organize the building around what we’re
calling a ‘main street,’ and that main street runs from north to south on the
site. This is meant to be a very public area of the building, is meant to have
a lot of student interaction with it and is meant to relate to this existing
landscape,” said Jim Moravec, an architect with Potter-Lawson, the
Madison-based landscaping and architecture firm designing the building.
The four-story building is planned to be located on the
university’s Lot X and contain four science labs on the north end and four labs
on the south with classrooms in-between. A one-story north wing with two
120-seat lecture halls would extend past the four-story portion.
“Then there’s a south wing. A two-story portion of it has
classrooms with two classrooms on each level and a conservatory,” said Moravec.
Moravec said the etched-glass conservatory will be lighted
at night and operate as one of four lighted “beacons” of entrance to the
building.
The design also includes a loading dock heavily masked by
landscaping on the northeast corner of the building connecting to Fourth
Avenue.
“Originally the Old Main Building is part of the historical
part of the campus and the new student union (Dreyfus University Center) is actually
an addition but built recently, so what we’re trying to do is relate to both
characters on the campus with our new building,” said Moravec. “You’ll see some
gestures to both of them in the design.”
“From a material standpoint, we’re actually looking at two
types of brick. One is more of a blended brick for the frame around the
building and a second is a more solid brick,” he said. “Currently, we haven’t
chosen a brick yet, but we’re looking at brick that will play a little bit off
the Old Main – the more historical part of the campus – rather than being a
tannish brick, it’s more to the orange-ish, a more vibrant color.”
“On the undersides of the overhangs (above the entrances),
we’re looking at the use of natural wood because we’re trying to use some wood
in the ceilings, partly because of its natural warmth character but also
because of a big biology contingent to the building,” Moravec said.
Moravec said the design team is also looking at using
fritted glass, or etched glass, in exterior places around the building to give
it a vibrant glow.
The exterior landscaping could also potentially feature an
outdoor classroom that could be used as a gathering point for not only UWSP
students, but for orientation tours, elementary school field trips and outdoor
entertainment, but those plans aren’t finalized, Moravec said.
“Down at the end of Stanley Street (currently the Lot X
entrance), one of the desires of the university is to provide an ending to that
street, because that is the public approach that a lot of students will see the
campus for the first time,” Moravec said.
The new “entrance” to the campus may feature sculpture
artwork, but nothing has been settled on yet, he said.
“We’re trying to preserve as many of the trees as we can,
but we’re trying to introduce more of a natural landscaping, something that’s
more sustainable that wouldn’t need, perhaps, as much watering as the
landscaping now,” he said.
The university has also considered the parking loss from removing
Lot X, Rasmussen said.
He said the university identified the need years ago and
through savvy redistribution throughout the entire campus, the total parking
space loss will be about 14 stalls.
Some folks were concerned about the loss of night parking
during sporting events, but Rasmussen said through a reworking of Lot Q and an
addition of a connection to Lot T from Fourth Avenue, parking would remain
manageable and close to the Heath Services Center.
“We expect what we call the ‘35-percent design review’ to
start this month yet,” said Rasmussen. “When we receive that we’ll have 30 days
to review and get our formal comments back to the designers. From there, we
will take that 35 percent, along with their estimate of probable cost and bring
that to the state building commission for authority to construct.”
“We have the dollars for this project approved in the
current capital budget. Right now the target is to have that done in April, we
could hold that off as late as August and still not affect our schedule,”
Rasmussen said. “We would continue the design work right up to 100 percent and
prepare bid documents.”
The university plans to have the new science building
completed and occupied with classes by the spring semester of 2018.
“(The presentation) is just a conceptual project review,
this is what they anticipate going forward with and then ultimately it would
have to come back for a site plan review in front of the Plan Commission and
Common Council for approval,” said Michael Ostrowski, director of Community
Development.
Wescott said the subject will likely return to the Plan
Commission for formal action during February’s round of government meetings.
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