University of Wisconsin - Stout


Is the renovation necessary?
The Memorial Student Center (MSC) was built in 1985. While the facility has been maintained to the best of staff abilities, our student body has different needs. Respondents to the B&D market study indicated they wanted the building to have more natural light, more lounge space, and be more aesthetically pleasing. A common theme was to move the student organizations to a more visible location of the Student Center. The mission of the Memorial Student Center is to be welcoming gathering spaces whose employees are dedicated to enhancing life, learning and leadership. The MSC is a community building for the campus. Expectations are that we have an updated facility that meets the ever changing needs of our student population.
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What is the vision of the project?
The MSC will provide welcoming gathering spaces for the campus and community. The environments will exhibit high energy, bright colors and cozy comfortable atmospheres. Cutting edge technology, flexibility and sustainability will meet the community’s every changing needs. The MSC will foster spontaneous interaction,collaboration and learning between students, faculty, staff and the greater community. The MSC will be destinations to experience arts, discuss ideas and embrace diversity as well as a place to grow, socialize, study, eat and have fun.
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Are students involved in the planning process?
The Project Planning committee has student representation from Stout Student Association, Inter Residence Hall Council and student organizations. The MSC is a student facility so it was very important to have student input from the start. The student participation has been outstanding by providing ideas and engaging discussion. The data that the entire student body provided in the B&D market survey has been analyzed and incorporated in the proposed concepts.
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How will the renovation project be funded?
The MSC is a self-sustaining facility. This means that state tax dollars are not used to fund our facilities or services. Funds are collected from segregated fees, rent from Dining Services, commission for the Bookstore and revenue from sale of services are used to pay for activities, building maintenance and facility operation. As concepts and cost estimates for the project are developed the student government will be asked approve the project. Segregated fees will need to be increased to cover the cost of the renovation.
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What changes are being considered?
The committee has identified prevailing themes for the Memorial Student .

Memorial Student Center
· Relocate the Student Organization Center and Involvement Opportunities, Stoutonia, Ally Center to high traffic areas
· Add flexible and retail space
· Add student lounge space
· More natural light
· Create destination areas (administration offices and meeting spaces)
· Create outside entrance and visibility for the Bookstore
· Update the aesthetics of the building including the entrances
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What is the timeline for the project?
In order to do a thorough job, projects take time. A pre-planning architect has been hired to work with the committee to develop concepts and cost estimates. The committee will be meeting with student organizations to review the ideas. The ideas will be taken to Stout Student Association hopefully during fall 2008 semester for a vote. The project will need to be reviewed and approved by various state agencies before an architect can be hired. This will be updated when more complete information is available.
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What would happen if we needed to shut down the MSC due to the renovation?

First, we don’t know at this time if we would need to shut down the MSC during the renovation. The answer to this question will probably be answered during the design phase. We do know from other construction projects that shutting down the MSC will: a) lessen the total time of the project, & b) more than likely cut the total cost of the project.

IF, we did need to shut down the MSC for the renovation it is estimated that the building would be shut down for a summer, an academic school year and the following summer. The renovated MSC would open again the following fall.

Numerous efforts would be made to provide the student body with essential programs and services. We would need to be creative. Dining options would expand in various areas around campus. Many basic services would probably be relocated to the Price Commons. Entertainment and programming would take place in a variety of locations, on and off-campus. Our colleagues at UW-Stevens Point recently experienced an 18 month shut-down for their student center renovation. They have many lessons and helpful hints to share with us if we encounter that situation.
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In the proposed project, the bowling lanes are gone. What is up with that?
The bowling lanes were the subject of much discussion by the Project Planning Committee. Our consultants, Brailsford and Dunlavey, reported in their feasibility study that our campus only had the demand for three lanes of bowling. A three lane bowling alley is not really realistic. The cost of restoring our lanes and the amount of space they take up made it apparent to the Project Planning Committee that a tough choice had to be made. The Project Planning Committee felt that bringing student organizations and involvement to the high traffic area was a much better use of that square footage.
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In the proposed project the bookstore moves to the space currently occupied by The Underground. Where are going to have our entertainment and recreation venue?
First, a person needs to understand we are in a Pre-Planning stage. The proposed project developed by SDS Architects in association with Perkins + Will show the building floor plan in a “bubble diagram” layout. Bubble diagrams are just general indications of space usage and adjacencies. Nothing is set in stone. The design phase would come next if we get funding approval.

Throughout the project planning process, we have always talked about the need to develop an entertainment venue/hangout space. We believe this space would be developed somewhere within the footprint of the current bookstore location. It is also important to note that Huff’s would retain its multipurpose role. In the past it has been an excellent medium size performance venue. However, its location has kept Huff’s a bit of a secret. In the proposed project, Huff’s visibility will be greatly increased.
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The open floor plan and “union square” concepts are really cool, but are we going to have a lot of noise concerns?
That is a great question and it is certainly something we will need to look at in the design phase. Several factors lead us to believe we will be able to address this issue successfully. Acoustical engineering has come a long way since 1985 (when the MSC was built). On our visits to other student centers we have seen some great use of glass walls and panels. Glass panels and walls can be very effective in providing privacy, security, and sound management while keeping the integrity of an open and flowing floor plan. Lastly, our reservation data shows us that the overlap of formal meetings and evening entertainment functions has been minimal.
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In the presentation there is a slide that says 42% of the project dollars need to go to “Systems Replacement” and it indicates these items need to be addressed in the near future. What does all of that mean and are we going to need replace these systems regardless if we do a project?
In this case systems replacement refers to some key infrastructure elements of the building. They include: HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning); fire protection upgrades; window replacements; exterior drainage issues; power and telecommunication upgrades. These are not very glamorous or exciting things to spend money on but they are very important to the long term functionality of the building and will drastically improve the energy efficiency (greenness) of the MSC.

If we do not move forward with the proposed renovation project, we will still need to address these issues in the next few years. Some of these systems are in worse shape and more critical than others. If we don’t address them in a renovation project, we will have deal with them as smaller projects over a series of years. Due to inflation, it is quite possible that the sum of these small projects would cost more than doing them all within a renovation project.
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Within the presentation, there are several cool looking drawings of the exterior of the building labeled “Expanded Scope”. What is the story behind these “Expanded Scope” slides?
When we hired SDS / Perkins + Will to be our pre-planning architects, we gave them a scope of the project and a budget. The scope was to address an interior renovation and the budget was $15 million. In April of 2008, our pre-planning architects worked with us to develop the initial project concept. During our discussions, SDS / Perkins + Will felt the proposed concept addressed the needs outlined and took care of key interior architectural problems. However, they did feel that building still suffered from a key exterior architectural problem. The MSC wasn’t inviting from the outside and did not have a clearly defined front door (or back door for that matter).

We wanted to make sure we weren’t missing an opportunity to address a key issue. You only get so many chances to renovate a student center. We asked them to bring us some preliminary concepts that addressed the problems they talked about. That’s what the “expanded scope” slides are about. They are early and basic concept drawings that would address two of the MSC’s main entrances, its outward appearance, and its position as a welcoming beacon of the campus. Our architects believe the expanded scope concept could add $5 million to the project.
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