Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1973)
Illustration by Sue Halvorsen The new, streamlined, larger-than-ever EMU, to be finished December 7. Opening of EMU addition set for ,, December Christmas will come a few days early at the University this year. December 7, to be exact, because that’s the day the extension to EMU will be completed. According to Dick Reynolds, EMU director, the $3.25 million addition will be functioning by the beginning of winter term, 1974. The new building has been a long time coming. It was almost six years ago that officials decided the university had outgrown the present EMU facilities. Since then, Portland architects Colburn and Sheldon have revised their plans several times to accomodate a growing student body with changing needs. The new extension will provide an additional 61,000 square feet of space, boosting the total area of the EMU to almost 20G.000 square feet. Although that may sound like a huge area, Reynolds says it is just about the rightsize for a student body of 15,000-plus. Ironically, if the university population grows any more, the facilities will again be inadequate. “If that happens,” says Reynolds, “we’ll start building satellites around the campus. We won’t add anymore to this building because if it gets too big it will outgrow its efficiency and become dysfunctional. ” The addition will house both new and relocated facilities. One of the most popular new features will undoubtedly be the Craft Center, which will serve as a source of informal instruction for students in terested in photography, ceramics, jewelry making, leather tooling, weaving, and woodworking. The set-up at the Craft Center will be similar to that of the Outdoor Resource Center. Students who are interested in learning about a craft can come and either work on their own or get some instruction and assistance from one of the students who already knows something about the craft. Participants can bring their own materials or buy them at the Craft Center, which will be located on the first floor of the new addition. Reynolds says this will be one of the most complete university craft centers in the country. “The school has been nurturing the idea of a craft studio for about ten years,” he says, “But until now we haven’t had a place to put it.” The first floor of the new addition will also house the ASUO student body offices, a student lounge, and a day care center. Unlike the University Child Care and Development Center, which enrolls children on a regular, scheduled basis, the EMU day care facility is designed for parents who need only occasional child care service. The fee will be based on an hourly rate. Reynolds says the ASUO will hire a full-time supervisor for the center. The second floor of the new addition is connected to the old EMU by means of a concourse-lounge area. The main desk and ticket counters, which are now in the old section of the building, will be relocated on this floor, along with a meeting room which is larger than the present Dad’s Room, though not as big as the EMU ballroom. The top story of the unfinished extension will house the food ser vice, six meeting rooms, and student dining space that will ac comodate 300 people. A series of dining terraces connected by ramps will flow from the third floor to the second. Students may eat on any of these terraces, or in the third floor dining area. Reynolds does not want the menu in the new addition to duplicate the food served in either the fishbowl or the cafeteria. So the new dining area will specialize in only three things: soup, salad, or sand wiches large enough to constitute a one-entree meal. Although the food will be prepared in the kitchen of the old section, it will be “assem bled” in the new dining area. The most distinguishing characteristic of the new EMU is the central hollow core which extends from the first floor to a skylight in the roof of the third floor. The terraced dining areas are built around this core, where you can look down through the center of the building to the first floor lounge. This will probably be the most popular place in the new addition. While workmen complete construction on the new EMU facilities, the old section of the union will get a face-lift. The cafeteria foodline is being remodeled for faster, more efficient service, and restrooms will be installted on the first floor, near the fishbowl, this summer. Work men have already covered the terrace adjacent to the old cafeteria. Once the building and remodeling is done, a crew will excavate and landscape the area in front of the present student lounge, so that you will be able to walk under the old building to a courtyard on the other side and into the new addition. Although the 13th Street side of the new extension will be brick, to blend with the old part of the building, the rest of the addition is primarily concrete. But the solid impact of the cement will be broken up by the series of skylights which accent the building, and by the trees and shrubs which will be planted on the southeast side. Looking at the half-done building now, it is hard to envision how it will look by next December. It is even harder to believe that the long awaited extra space will finally be a reality. No more scrounging for a stray chair in the cafeteria. No more fighting for a seat on a couch in the lounge on a rainy day. Of course, the new addition will probably bring new problems. When you tell your friend you’ll meet him at the EMU you may have to spend half an hour looking for him... Nancy Hay _ . . , Photo by Norman Choi Construction on student union addition will continue this summer.
