Design Opportunities

The Husky Union Building serves one of the largest university campuses in the US, and is at the center of campus activity. It is large, welcoming, and diverse and performs a wide arrange of services for a campus population of more than 50,000. the HUB plays an important role on campus, serving as campus-wide Community Center and the key facility in a wide range of on-campus and off-campus options.

As the main campus grows, slowly but surely, the HUB needs to expand its services. In addition, the basic needs of students and faculty are changing. Expectations today include greater diversity in services, longer hours, and a clientele for the HUB whose needs are more variable.

Updated Student Unions on other campuses are providing a wider range of services like places for banqueting, entertainment, and conference groups, and a new range of student operated food service facilities of unique retail options. Many of these ideas may respond to needs at the HUB, and many may not. The first major job of the Master Plan will be to try out new ideas and evaluate the existing, working with the Programming committee to create the program for the future HUB.

The existing HUB Building will be the center of the discussion. This facility and the building itself are the major constraints of the project. The existing HUB seems cramped to an outside visitor, and lacking that generous central space that unifies its diverse programs. Where do people meet? Where do they 'chill? Where will they 'see' and be 'seen'? Where will they eat, play, study, work, or live? These and a thousand other questions will be answered as we work through this process together.

What should be the image of the HUB, now and in the future? The mostly collegiate gothic shell that faces the Allen Library across a beautiful lawn fits the campus beautifully, as a landmark on campus, yet it is not very inviting. Entrances are visible but dark, and sunlight generally seems excluded from the building in many places.

It is a classic problem in campus architecture, to need an architectural design that is contemporary yet harmonious with the campus architecture of an earlier era. It is even more difficult when the need is for an addition rather than a separate facility. We understand perfectly the need for careful master planning in the vicinity of the HUB, and we would anticipate working closely with the Architectural Commission as the planning and design progresses.