In the fall of 2014, the newest building on campus will be a home for Oregon’s future business leaders and embody the authentic character of Oregon State that inspires students and faculty. Located on Jefferson Way next to the Women’s Building and directly across the street from Weatherford, the new home for the College of Business will be the anchor of a developing quad on campus.

Austin Hall, named to reflect the $10 million commitment from alumni Ken and Joan Austin, will be an expansive 100,000 square feet that will include ten classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, collaborative team rooms, more than 70 faculty offices, staff and program offices, a café and event space.

Creating the shared vision for the future home of the college continues to evolve through an inspired collaborative process. Beginning in early May, stakeholders met more than 20 times in various group configurations with the architectural design team and the college’s building committee as part of the predesign phase.

“We haven’t gotten into shaping architecture yet,” said Dana Ing Crawford, project manager for THA Architecture’s design team, in early August. This information-gathering phase of the work was intended to ensure that the building truly reflects the college’s culture, values and future intentions in addition to meeting its specific and unique needs for space. The team collected input from undergraduate and graduate students, instructional and research faculty, representatives of the various programs and initiatives, college and university administrators and staff, and university facilities staff.

The meetings began with a series of “impressions” workshops among the broad range of stakeholders. Participants were invited to choose from various abstract images that instinctively represented their hopes for the new building. Collecting the images allowed the design team and building committee to put abstract ideas into words and develop a vision to guide the overall design.

Underlying the vision is the collective desire for the building to project a professional atmosphere that inspires students and faculty while remaining unpretentious and comfortable.

“We want a welcoming look that has a Northwest business feel—that’s friendly but still shows we’re about business,” said Malcolm LeMay, COB director of operations. Stakeholders want the building to encourage connections while honoring and protecting the significance of individual work through a network of interconnected, flexible spaces. It should reflect the university’s value of sustainability and aid students’ understanding of their connection to the rest of the world.

Crawford said she has enjoyed the interactions with the college. “The building  committee and the College of Business are so engaged and excited to realize this  dream they’ve had for such a long time,” she said. “It’s really a very involved group, which is fun to work with.”

Schematic designs will be forthcoming, and construction on Austin Hall will begin in spring 2013. It is expected to be ready for classes beginning fall term 2014.

Donors have contributed $26.8 million toward a $30 million fundraising goal for the Austin Hall project. The goal includes $25 million for construction and $5 million to cover ongoing operations, maintenance and future technology upgrades. In addition to the private funds, the state legislature recently approved $24.1 million in lottery bonds for the project.

Vision

Austin Hall is a home for the future of Oregon innovation that embodies the authentic  character of Oregon State University, highlights collaboration, honors individual work, and inspires students and faculty through heightened awareness of their connections to the world and one another.

Traits

A home for entrepreneurs
A home for faculty and students that is unpretentious and comfortable, but also professional

Projecting and protecting
A place that encourages and projects the value of connections, while honoring and protecting the significance of individual work

A sense of belonging within a network
A network of nonlinear, interconnected, flexible spaces that inspire collaboration while also instilling a sense of belonging and individualism

Portal for understanding one’s connections to the world
A portal that heightens one’s awareness of their connection to the site, to the campus, to the region and to the world

Inspiring and authentic
A place that is inspiring and distinctive, but also authentic, modest and efficient