The site is a major addition to the original student center of a major university.  The campus is near the ocean, which provides a breezy and benign environment.  The original cluster of student center buildings occupied a tree covered hill in the 1970’s.  What was the main social hub of the then much smaller campus was de-emphasized by the construction of a newer larger center in the 1980’s. Many of the student services focused at the new location.  Despite the completion of the new modern center, it was the choice of a number of student organizations to remain in the original center, attracted to its warmth of materials, its park-like setting, and the unique brand of student drawn there.   The university newspapers, radio station, food co-op, bookstore, general store, and TV station came to call this place home.  At the same time, the newly built center became the de-facto student center; a place that represents the majority of students, the mainstream; the fraternities, the sororities, the convenient food availability, and the student leadership as well as administrative hub.  The fact is, no campus can exist without a split of the properties exhibited in the sum of both of these centers. 

The physical setting factors heavily in making the Original Student Center a unique and personal space for its users. Towering groves of Eucalyptus trees run throughout the campus, and the student center is located midpoint in one of the larger offshoots of the grove. One of the interesting things about the project is the role the park has as joiner of two worlds.  It cuts a swath between the Original Student Center and the new center, acting as a neutral and soothing balm between these the two extremes of student life.

The program calls for a two phase approach to the work being done at the Original Student Center.  The first phase involves the addition of 13,593 GSF of space to the existing 20,012 GSF of center.  The second phase will add some 4000 GSF more to the center.  Of paramount importance to the project is the maintaining of the existing character and feel of the new structures to the center.  The Architect and the University’s Facilities staff have worked closely together and with the many student organizations to insure that the character of the existing center will be enhanced by the new work.