file photo/Arizona Daily Wildcat

The UA's new Student Union Memorial Center, once completed, will feature its own unique style of architecture, including a wall to replicate the USS Arizona.

Design will incorporate old union's belltower

The mall-like atmosphere of new Student Union Memorial Center's phase 1 will be countered with unique architecture to create a ship motif once the building in completed.

Bob Bertolini, general superintendent for Swinerton, the contractor working on the building, said the new union - which will be completed in December 2002 - will incorporate design features including a walkway named The Canyon and a new clock tower.

Bertolini said that when finished, The Canyon will connect the Mall with Mountain Avenue. The walkway will have a concrete molding to replicate the side of the USS Arizona - a ship that sunk in the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.

"You will be able to see Speedway Boulevard and beyond," Bertolini said.

The Boomerang, one of the walls of the Canyon walkway, will reflect the battleship design with a stone face and curve.

The best view to see the resemblance of the battleship will be the north and south side of the walkway, Bertolini said.

"The union is a showcase for the city of Tucson and the state of Arizona," he said.

The new clock tower, located near the canyon, will house the bell once belonging to the USS Arizona, said Dan Adams, director of the Arizona Student Unions. The bell had been housed in the old student union.

"The clock tower is very important, people have fond memories of it," Adams said.

The new union will incorporate more features from the old student union such as another memorial lounge for the USS Arizona and art associated with World War II.

For some UA students, the changes to the union were not welcome.

"It looks very technological, but I prefer the old style of the building," said Fusun Ercetin, a UA transfer senior from Turkey. "This is like a mall."

Other additions planned for the union will be another cellar used for an entertainment and food venue, an expanded food court for two additional restaurants and an expanded U-Mart.

Revenue lost during construction is not expected to be a challenge for the new union because retail stores and restaurants were able to stay open, Adams said.

"Our expenses have increased, but our revenue has increased, too," Adams said.

The new Student Union Memorial Center, which will be 400,000 square feet once completed, will be the biggest student union in the nation without an adjacent hotel.

The building is expected to be completed in December 2002 and will cost just under $60 million, Bertolini said.