USI Uses Local Landmarks, Recycled Materials

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — It’s in with the old at the University of Southern Indiana, where the $18.6 million university center expansion completed in March combines recycled materials and local landmarks.

 

Totaling 173,904 square feet, the center features renovations to more than half of the original center, as well as about 60,000 feet of reconstructed building space and a 20,815-square-foot new multi-story link and 97-foot tower that marks the central campus public space, according to the university.

 

The reconstructed and newly built space, designed by New York-based Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture, features dining and lounging areas, meeting and office space, and spaces for student organizations.

 

The building’s new spaces are designed to provide congregation and interaction spaces between student and faculty, said Malcolm Holzman, partner at the design firm.

 

“By combining new and reclaimed materials and incorporating regional references in unexpected ways, our goal was to create moments of discovery throughout the structure to develop a sense of connectivity fueled by shared experience,” he said.

 

As part of the firm’s goal to meet environmental standards while “conveying a visually compelling and physically tangible sense of community identity,” the building is using the salvaged, 28-square-foot limestone arch from Evansville’s former landmark Orr Iron company building.

 

The landmark was built by the family of late-Indiana Governor Robert D. Orr and the arch was donated to the school by the Indiana Department of Transportation to link the university with the surrounding community.

 

The local, non-traditional building materials used as part of the key design elements were either entirely repurposed or juxtaposed into unusual combinations, according to the school. 

 

Materials included slabs of quarry-faced roughback limestone from B.G. Hoadley Quarries, typically used as scrap materials, that were cut to form the tower’s exterior, and 1,200 chair legs used to form a decorative ceiling in the lounges.

 

The school also plans to build a 27,000-square-foot teaching theater, designed by Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture, which is pending funding approval from the state.

 

“With a range of local products and artifacts used in the construction of University Center East, the building is one that is uniquely at home in Evansville and Southwestern Indiana,” said Mark Rozewski, USI vice president for Finance and Administration. “The construction provides vitally needed space for the growing University, and it celebrates its Evansville and southwestern Indiana roots in a permanent way.”