June 21, 2007
Architects present first cut at new design for HUB
Members of the UW community got a chance to see what the Husky Union Building might look like someday when representatives of Perkins + Will, the architectural firm that is creating a master plan for the building, visited just before the end of spring quarter.
Eventually, the firm will present the University with three alternatives for the HUB — ranging from highest to lowest cost — but this visit was a time for dreaming big. The cardboard model the architects shared included everything students, faculty and staff who attended earlier meetings told them would improve the HUB.
“We talked to people who are or might be in the building and got their ideas of what they’d like,” said B. Jeff Stebar, a partner with Perkins + Will. “Using that list, the building would need to expand by 35 to 40 percent.”
That translates into a building that grows from 262,000 to 340,000 square feet.
But Stebar described the plan the architects had brought as a “test fit,” calling it “version 001 of about 70.”
Peter Busby, a design principal with the firm, described the changes that are being contemplated. He listed five principles that are guiding the architects in their work:
- The HUB should be the heartbeat of the campus, the center of student life.
- The HUB should connect well with the rest of campus.
- The HUB’s internal organization and circulation should be strengthened.
- The HUB’s heritage should be restored and enhanced
- The HUB yard should be embraced.
With those principles in mind, Busby said plans call for two atria in the building. One would run north and south along the building’s current main corridor, and the other east and west in what is currently the main lobby. The atria, Busby said, would bring natural light into the building and make its contents more visible. Stairs going down to the ground level would be brought into the east-west atrium, thus bringing some light into the ground floor as well.
Much of the ground floor dining area would remain as it is. However, the architects are recommending terracing on the west side of the building that would allow for outdoor seating there, as well as a better ground floor entrance and additional light.
The architects also recommend that the current loading dock, which Busby said conflicts with pedestrian routes, be moved to the south and lead into the building’s basement. The basement bowling alley and billiards area would remain as they are, and much of the rest of that level would be converted to storage.
One section of the HUB’s first floor is devoted to retail in the plans. The bookstore would remain where it is, with the hair salon and bank joining it. The bike shop would open out on the building’s north end, which is to be expanded. Also on the north end but facing west would be the offices of student organizations. Terracing on that end of the building would enable the offices to open out to the HUB lawn. The first floor would also include a commuter lounge where there would be lockers, computers and perhaps limited childcare.
The information desk would, of course, remain on the first floor, and there would also be a few meeting rooms.
The major change on the second floor would be moving the two ballrooms so that they would be side by side, with meeting rooms configured around them. This level would also have a multicultural lounge and offices for the ASUW commissions.
The third level would have a board room, offices for the administration and a deck. There would be a room with tiered seating that could be used by ASUW, the Student Senate and GPSS, and a quiet lounge as well. The art gallery would also be on this level, with plenty of windows to provide natural light.
The architects are also proposing that the HUB auditorium undergo a major overhaul that would make it larger and also reconfigure it so that it would have a separate entrance on the south side of the building. That way, Busby said, it could be open for performances or lectures after the rest of the building had closed. Seating would increase from 430 to 750 seats.
Busby said the lowest-cost alternative would probably mean not making any changes to the dining area or the ballrooms, while the medium-cost alternative would mean not making any changes to the dining area. He said construction would proceed in stages so that the building would never be completely closed.
No cost figures were provided at the presentation. Perkins + Will representatives will return over the summer to meet with key UW officials, and are scheduled to meet with both the Architectural Commission and the Landscape Architecture Commission in September. Their final report is due Sept. 28.
What will happen from there depends upon students’ willingness to have their student activity fee increased to cover the cost of a renovation. The Student Activities Fee Committee would have to approve funds first for completing drawings and then for construction itself. The earliest that actual construction could get under way would be 2009.
Anyone who has input for the architects about the building plans should send them to Paul Zuchowski, badgers@u.washington.edu.
