As part of the ongoing new student center planning process, Student Council has received a feasibility report from a Charlottesville architecture firm.
With $20,000 in funding from the University, Council hired VMDO Architects to conduct a study to determine what the University can do with its space availability outside Newcomb Hall, said Andy Burdick, a member of Council's New Student Center Committee. Based on its findings, VMDO has proposed three different options for the facility's design.
The study also determined the square footage dimensions for possible program uses, including a student commons area, dining facility, theatre, meeting rooms and other student service necessities.
However, a building layout cannot be established until the University determines facility programming later this year.
As part of the next phase, Student Council plans to solicit ideas from students in a more aggressive manner during the upcoming school year, Council President Abby Fifer said.
Council posted a Web site last semester for student programming suggestions. Students agreed that they needed an area for congregating, Fifer said.
"The University currently does not offer a place for students to come and hang out," she said. "The closest things we have to that are Alderman Cafe or the fourth floor of Clemons Library."
The University also has a need for student organization space, but there is student disagreement over how the space should be used.
Given the large student population and scope of the building, program ideas ranged from dining facilities to performance space to general meeting areas, Burdick said.
"The promise that I can make to students is that we will spend a significant amount of time in the next semester to year to listening to every means of input we know how to get about what should be in this building," Fifer said. "This is really a time for students to speak up about what they need and what they want."
The committee plans to meet early in the next semester to determine further courses of action for building progress, and may contract an indepndent consultant to conduct a programming feasibilty study, said Pat Lampkin, interim vice president for student affairs.
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