Emily Sproul had her heart set on Pacific University long before she set foot on campus.
After moving in Thursday, the freshman said the campus — especially her dorm room in brand-new Cascade Hall — didn’t disappoint.
“I showed up and it just blew me away how beautiful it is,” Sproul said. “All of the dorms were nice, but this is just amazing.”
The new 61,500 square-foot residence hall sleeps about 80 freshmen and 120 sophomores and is seeking LEED Gold certification as a green building.
Construction will begin in May on a new look for the University Center at Pacific University. The renovation is one of several projects under way at the Forest Grove campus.
The two-story University Center building, originally constructed in 1963, is considered outdated for the university’s plans for growth. The building needs cosmetic updating and greater accessibility, said Joe Lang, Pacific University’s media relations director.
At the Southeast Center, being successfully completed by OWCB (including a successful parternship between Walsh Construction Co., O’Neill Electric and Inline Construction) the new Student Commons building opened this week. The campus also is gaining a new library and a major remodel of the historic 1911 German-American Society building. The $36 million project is doubling the size of the Southeast Center and is expected to serve as a catalyst for economic development in Southeast Portland.
One of the great historical lessons Portland learned early, and then seemed to forget, is that, in a dark, dreary climate, bright buildings lift the soul. Early century architects such as San Francisco’s Reid & Reid and Portland’s A.E. Doyle proved it with glazed, white terra cotta high-rises like the Yeon Building and Meier & Frank. Pietro Belluschi showed how beautifully aluminum could do the job with the Equitable Building in 1948.
So say a word of thanks to the Powell family and the Pacific Northwest College of Art for ArtHouse, the new student residence hall at NW Park and Couch. Built in collaboration with the development company, Project, and designed by Thomas Robinson of Lever Architecture, it not only reminds us of the lesson, but does it stunningly.