Phase II: Capital Projects
North Campus
Founders Plaza
The first phase of the Founders Plaza revitalization provided a dramatic transformation of the main public space on North Campus. Pavement was replaced, drainage improved, landscaping renewed, new furniture provided, and a major public art installation deployed (“For the gentle wind doth move, Silently, invisibly,” by renowned landscape sculptor Brian Tolle). Summer 2008 will see the renovation of paving and landscaping continue to the east from Baldy Hall to Clemens providing additional functional and aesthetic improvements.
North Campus Childcare
Construction is expected to begin in spring of 2008 on a 9,000 square foot expansion of the UB Child Care Center located near South Lake Village. The project will improve and expand existing facilities and provide space for future growth. Expanded child care facilities will provide much needed access to care for children of parents who are also faculty, staff, and students.
A new building for Engineering
Schematic designs are complete for a new 131,500 square foot building to house the Departments of Computer Science Engineering and Electrical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). The building will create attractive, modern space for learning and research and foster collaboration among departments throughout SEAS and beyond. The design features a dramatic south-facing three-story atrium and both indoor and outdoor public connections through the building to parking and Spine. The project is scheduled for occupancy by summer 2011.
Athletics, Recreation & Wellness Center
Planning is under way to create a new Athletics, Recreation and Wellness Center to feature an indoor practice field and running track, lockers and meeting rooms for varsity football, and weight- and cardio-training facilities. The facility is crucial to UB’s competitive ambitions in intercollegiate athletics and will also be available for intramural and recreational use. Located immediately to the north of UB Stadium, the building will add a striking element to the North Campus skyline.
South Ellicott Housing Complex
Planning and design are moving forward on a new suite-style apartment residence intended to provide sophomores with an attractive alternative for on-campus living. The building will encompass nearly 200,000 square feet immediately south of the Ellicott Complex and accommodate 600 residents. The building will also act as a front door to Ellicott and provide a closer link to the academic Spine. Design is expected to meet the LEED “Silver” standard of sustainable design and will be responsive to the relevant principles of the living/learning landscape.
“The Heart of the Campus”
Planning is continuing for an ambitious project that seeks to improve the functionality and aesthetics of learning spaces across North and South campuses and to chart UB’s path to the “Library of the 21st Century.” The project is intended to respond to the relocation of little used and electronically superseded library volumes to remote shelving in library annexes by providing improved study spaces, centralized student services, improvements to the “public realm” of the campus, space for Undergraduate Research Academies, office and classroom space for academic units, and secure facilities for Information Technology.