Undergrads to learn underground in 1999

By Amy Schweigert
Arizona Summer Wildcat
July 10, 1996

Gregory Harris
Arizona Daily Wildcat

Facilities Management architect Peter Dourlein shows the various models of the three proposed designs for the new Integrated Instructional Facility.

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In an effort to centrally locate a new technologically advanced building, University of Arizona students will be figuratively buried alive under the Mall.

Construction of a single-story, sublevel building called the Integrated Instructional Facility, or IIF, is set to begin next summer north of the Main Library, where the memorial fountain now stands, said Peter Dourlein, Facilities Management senior archit ect.

Dourlein said the IIF construction should be completed by January 1999. However, he said, it will not be operational until March or April of 1999.

Although the fountain is going to be removed, its idea will be integrated into the new building, said Michael Gottfredson, vice provost for undergraduate education.

Kent Rollins, director of the Alumni Association, said the association will be involved in creating a historical place within the new building. He said he has "heard some excitement about that."

Building spending questioned

The IIF received a 6 to 1 conceptual approval from the Arizona Board of Regents in December 1994. Opposed was Regent John Munger.

Munger said he questions why this building is a top priority at a time when the university says it is struggling financially. He said the money should go toward paying professors or funding other priorities.

Because the university was denied a funding request from the Arizona State Legislature, it is most likely that bonds will be sold to raise the $20 million needed for the building's construction, said Joel Valdez, senior vice president for business affairs .

Valdez said the preferred way to finance a building is with cash, but when that is not an option, selling bonds is the typical method used.

According to the UA's request for conceptual approval, the IIF "concept stems from a planning effort devoted to improving undergraduate education."

Because "no other classroom building on campus met the goals for the new core curriculum program," the IIF was needed, a facilities management press release stated.

However, Gottfredson said the core curriculum is "a big project" that has not yet officially been passed by the Faculty Senate Undergraduate Education Committee. Although it has been operating on a trial basis, he said it is a general education project se parate from the IIF.

The core curriculum establishes a "single general education program for the entire university," Gottfredson said. It consists of 30 units of common classes fulfilling two levels of general education in the areas of natural sciences, arts/humanities and in dividuals/societies.

Dourlein said the intent of the core curriculum and IIF is to help retain students.

The 85,000-square-foot IIF building will accommodate 4,500 freshmen.

"It is targeted to the first-year experience," Gottfredson said.

Classrooms will be hi-tech

Possessing high-tech classrooms, lecture halls, discussion rooms and computer resource labs, the building will integrate technology like no other building on campus, said Mike Urena, University Teaching Center supervisor.

"The key to the new facility is technology," Gottfredson said.

Computers will be a common sight in the IIF, Urena said.

"What we're talking about is a room controlled by some sort of computer," Urena said.

Urena said the computers will also have the capability to store an instructor's old lecture notes, enabling a student to go to the classroom and catch up on missed classes.

The audiovisual/networking budget for the IIF is going to be large, Urena said. However, he said the exact amount and where it will come from has yet to be determined.

"That's not a concern at this point," Urena said.

He said a final proposal in the fall is going to determine the audiovisual/networking budget.

Dourlein said the IIF will be connected underground to the Main Library.

This leaves "a lot of question marks" for library staff, said James Uhrig, a library assistant.

It was proposed by the IIF staffing subcommittee that four library staffers, or a number of people working a total of 160 hours per week, will work in the new building, said Janet Fore, the undergraduate services team leader, in an interview via electroni c mail.

"I expect an increase in working with faculty members developing classes for first- and second-year students and an increase in working one-to-one with students taking classes in the core curriculum," Fore said in the message.

Rollins said the Alumni Association supports the IIF's concept. However, he said he can identify with some alumni who are concerned that the construction of the IIF will lead to future building on the Mall.

Mall location worries some

The Associated Students have no official stance regarding the building or its construction on the Mall, said Rhonda Wilson, the newly inducted 1996-1997 president. Wilson said ASUA has supported past efforts by the administration to improve undergraduate education.

Even though ASUA supports the theory behind the IIF, Wilson said that she would like to see discussion reopened as to where the building will be located.

"The location is something I, personally, have a problem with," Wilson said. She said constructing a building like the IIF will affect many aspects of student life.

Activities such as the Homecoming parade and Spring Fling are held on the Mall. Gottfredson said the construction will hopefully have a minimized effect on those activities. He said one Homecoming parade may need to be reorganized due to the construction.

Some UA students agreed that the construction will cause trouble on campus.

"It's going to suck for however long they need to build it," said Pat Monahan, animal sciences junior.

Monahan and media arts senior Michael Prueter said they were concerned about the effect of the construction on bike transportation between the Main Library and Modern Languages.

Monahan said he supports the building "as long as it doesn't cave in."

Gottfredson said there is "no doubt it's going to be disruptive." But, he said, "that's the price we have to pay."

Rollins said as long as the construction follows the design, the IIF will enhance the Mall and the freshman experience.

According to the press release, elements of the Mall's image, including its spatial organization, feeling of a physical/mental oasis and identity as a UA symbol, must be preserved after the construction is complete.

"I like the way they are preserving the Mall. It was very responsible for them to do that," said Robyn Huff-Eibl, a UA library specialist, at a public poster session held in the Main Library, June 27.

The session was held to get public input about three possible designs for the IIF.

Gottfredson said the IIF has had the "most extensive public commentary" of any UA building.

Anya Likhacheva, an Amphitheater High School student who was at the UA taking a summer session class, also attended the poster session. She is going to be one of the first students using the IIF in 1999. She said the building is "very unusual."

"I think it's cool and makes new people feel more at home," Likhacheva added.

IIF was approved in 1995

On May 22, 1995, following three open forums held earlier in the year, the building's underground site was approved by the president's cabinet, Gottfredson said.

Gresham and Beach Architect Inc., a Tucson firm, was hired in February 1996 to design the building.

Lynn Harris, the firm's project manager, said the biggest design challenge was "to respect the Mall and its importance as a visual icon."

The building takes flooding into consideration, Dourlein said.

"The only water they should ever accept is direct rainfall," Dourlein said. He said each design includes a courtyard.

Although there are three designs, the final design may be a compromise among them, Gottfredson said. He said he is encouraging a design with a large courtyard. Gottfredson said he "wants to have people hang out there."

Harris said the courtyards should provide different degrees of shade so it will remain comfortable outside throughout the year. She said the architects are thinking of using modulated shading which will allow for different degrees of shade.

Mark Novak, a campus and facilities planning landscape architect, said the courtyard's landscaping will include trees and seating areas.

Gottfredson said the actual design plan will be decided upon "very soon."


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