Wisconsin Union: Experiences for a Lifetime

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Wisconsin Union Initiative
Staff Forums
April 7, 9 to 10:30 AM at Memorial Union
April 15, 2:30 PM to 4 PM at Union South

The forums will include:
-a project update (including visual concepts)
-a discussion about the upcoming involvement opportunities
-opportunities to speak with the architects
-an initial outline of the Union South Decommission process and schedule

Design Advisory Group Meetings

Tuesday, March 25
6-7:30 pm- Foodservice and Retail
8-9:30 pm- Indoor/Outdoor Recreation

Wednesday, March 26
5-6:30 pm- Programming and Operations
7-8:30 pm- Leadership and Involvement

Thursday, March 27
5-6:30 pm- Site Design
7-8:30 pm- Sustainability

Friday, March 28
3-4:30 pm- Interior Design and Art

Union Survey Invitation
March 6-March 17
A web-based survey that solicits input, priorities, and feedback from all campus community members that will directly guide and prioritize the new south campus union’s programs, facilities, and services.
A new Wisconsin Union facility is coming to UW-Madison in 2011 that will further our vision of being the "heart and soul of a great university." In preparation for this momentous occasion, the Union wants to hear from all campus community members about what you want in your new south campus union.

Survey results are being collated. Stay tuned for updates.

More Information about the Project & Survey
In the fall of 2006, students passed the Student Union Initiative that secured funding to preserve Memorial Union through historic restoration and to reconstruct Union South. The current Union South will soon be recycled and a new south campus union will take its place nearly doubling in size and vitality.

To be successful, the new Union must attract a wide and diverse array of people. Programs, lounges and events are often what we think of first, but food, retail and recreation services play an important role in building community and allow the Union to finance the other programs and services.

This survey is in regards to those services and takes about 15 minutes to complete. In appreciation for your participation, the Wisconsin Union will award the following prizes to randomly selected participants:

One Grand Prize of a Terrace Chair & $250 Wiscard Deposit
Ten Prizes of $100 Wiscard Deposits
*Prizes are not funded by student fees or by tax dollars.

To be eligible for the drawing you must complete all applicable questions on the survey and enter your UW email address on the final question. Email addresses will not be sold or traded.

Thank you for your time and input. Your comments are important to us so that we can produce the best and most beloved 21st Century Union!

John Barnhardt
Wisconsin Union President

Start the Survey!
Please complete the survey only once. The survey invitation has been sent
to all campus members so there is no need to forward the survey link.

Find Out More & Get Involved
We want to keep you engaged, informed, and in touch with the building
project throughout all stages. To get more involved, email:
unionbuildingproject@gmail.com

If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Ann Roebuck of
Envision Strategies at aroebuck@envisionstrategies.com

Wisconsin Union Mini Conference
Building Project Campus Kickoff
February 25, 2008

To kick off the design phase of the Union Building Projects, a mini conference was held on February 25, 2008. The event was open to the public and ran from 2:00 pm until 9:30 pm. There were several goals for the event.

The first goal was to re-introduce the projects to the campus community, since more than a year had elapsed since the Student Union Initiative on the ASM ballot had secured the funding for the projects. (Many people are new to campus this year, and may not have been aware that we are about to re-build Union South and do a historic restoration of Memorial Union.) All of the UW System and State of Wisconsin approval steps had followed that vote. As you recall, there was an unprecedented delay of over 100 days for the Legislature to approve the overall State budget this year, and we couldn’t hire architects until we had a budget….so it took a long time to get to the Kick Off!

The second goal was to introduce our architects and design team to the campus. The team is comprised of a Milwaukee architecture firm called Workshop Architects partnering with a Columbus, Ohio architecture firm called Moody-Nolan. Both firms have done many student-focused projects on campuses around the country. We were thrilled to be able to hire this excellent team and we wanted the campus to meet them!

The third goal was to provide a blitz of an introduction to the campus and its current context for the design team.This was a fast way for them to get a lot of information!

The final goal was to begin the process of “steeping” the design team in the culture and traditions of this campus. The Union’s mission is “To be the heart and soul of a great university.” These designers are not building just any building! They have been challenged to design a home for Wisconsin Spirit that will be as beloved as Memorial Union! That’s a tall order, so we know the whole campus has to help them!

In the afternoon, when the most faculty and staff are on campus, the Kickoff featured sessions about the context of the building projects, like:

Campus Master Plan
Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
The Wisconsin Experience & The Wisconsin Idea
Science and the Legacy of The Wisconsin Idea
Accessibility Issues
Regent Street-South Campus Neighborhood Plan

There were a couple of Plenary sessions, featuring national speakers to broaden our perspectives on the projects:

Jay Walljasper, editor of Ode magazine and Senior Fellow with the Project for Public Spaces, spoke about “Winter Cities and Vibrant Outdoor Spaces.”
Garry Golden, professional Futurist, gave a talk called “Back to the Future: Wisconsin Roots meet the next century.”

In the evening, when more students are done with classes, the kickoff featured sessions about possibilities for the new south campus union, like:

The Unique Art Traditions of the Wisconsin Union
Places for FUN on our campus, Back in the Day and Now
The Future of Hoofers
ASM’s Grocery Store Campaign
Music and Film Venues Benchmarking
Emerging Green Builders Show Off Their Natural Talent to Rocky Mountain Institute Sustainability Consultants
Recreation Possibilities: The Games We Will Play
Food Possibilities: Farmers’ Market, “Buy Local” and Seasonal Cooking Lessons?
Global Connections: What about Cooking?

The Design Team wrapped up the evening with some reflections on what they had learned from us about the campus during the event, and architects’ Project Office (the former STA Travel office on the first floor of Memorial Union) was packed at the very end of the night, for the “Sign Up Fest.” Door prizes were awarded while participants enjoyed a Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae bar and signed up for a variety of teams to give input to our architects.

Though we had tons of people sign up to help at the “Sign Up Fest,” don’t despair if you missed it! There will be many, many more opportunities to get involved and contribute your input! Feel free to stop by the Project Office to get updates, or stay tuned to the building project website: www.newunion.wisc.edu

Chicago Trip
About 40 Union staff, students and members of the architecture team boarded a bus early on Friday, February 8 for a two-day whirlwind tour of Chicago college students unions and other buildings to help us prepare to design the new south campus union. Union buildings visited included Illinois Institute of Technology, DePaul and U. of Chicago. Specifically we were examining various types of spaces at the unions – food service, recreation, meeting, socializing, programming – and what seemed to work and what didn’t. Also visited were Millennium Park, the Chicago Opera House and the U. of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

We also spend a lot of time, formally and casually, discussing various aspects of the Union building project with the architecture team as we toured these assorted sites; especially what some of our expectations are, some of the limitations of Union South as well as the type of building and services we’d like to see in the new building.

Among the sites visited, some things stand out:
At IIT, the new union was built beneath an elevated train track, which actually runs through a giant metal tube. Every ten minutes or so a train rattles by above the union building, and conversations halt for a few seconds. Though it was build along the natural paths students walk on campus, we were told that they don’t spend much free time there; they prefer the old student union building that contains a pub, bowling alley, pool, computer games and more in the basement.

At DePaul, the union seemed busy and well occupied; food options abound and there is a lot of open space and mingling. While there were a lot of students present, we found that they are somewhat forced to be there – the food plan for campus is in the union and each student has a mailbox there. Many the meeting rooms and offices are on another floor which seemed oddly antiseptic.

The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business building was kind of nondescript from the outside. The indoor atrium is impressive; with plenty of natural light available through the glass ceiling and walls. The union is a comfy old building. Though it was a little small, students were using the dining hall (that was straight out of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts), the coffee house and a few other lounge areas.

The Opera House is a grand old building full of history, while the Cloud Gate sculpture in the outdoor Millennium Park (nicknamed “the Bean” for obvious reasons) is an impressive a piece of artwork. It’s hard to describe so take a look at the photo.

There were many revelations during this trip, great and small, among staff and the architecture team. This revealed the value of such an extended trip that you can’t generate in a meeting over the course of an hour or so. This shared experience and understanding that this camaraderie fostered will help guide us toward designing and building the best new campus union possible.

March 3
Focus groups
Short, high impact groups that give instant feedback and ideas to the architects, engineers, and consultants, face-to-face. Future dates TBD.

Union South
*4:30-5:30pm Science majors
*5:45-6:45pm International Students
*7pm-8pm Campus leaders

Memorial Union
*4:30-5:30pm Residence Halls residents
*5:45-6:45pm Students of color
*7pm-8pm Greek Life

Click here for more ways for students to get involved in the project."

Architects named for the Wisconsin Union Initiative:
Moody Nolan of Columbus, Ohio and Workshop Architects of Milwaukee. Details to come.

Wisconsin Union - Experiences for a Lifetime

Wisconsin Union Initiative

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