FIU Alumni Center

A Place to Call Home

Architecture students present designs for future Alumni Center
 

By Sissi Aguila ’99, MA ’08

Imagine this: A grand ballroom welcomes distinguished guests who glide across the dance floor at an evening gala. The next day, the ballroom doors open out into a courtyard to greet blue-and-gold tailgaters ready to watch a sold-out game on a projection screen, shaded by FIU Stadium. And not too far from there, a hall of fame salutes Golden Panthers’ accomplishments and history.

This was the vision that FIU architecture students were asked to bring into focus last year by the Office of Alumni Relations.

More than 30 students in the first-year graduate design studio class that Assistant Professor Jason Chandler coordinated and co-taught with Professor Nathaniel Belcher and instructor Nikolay Nedev were up to the challenge. They created concept boards taking into account the smallest detail of the proposed Alumni Center to be built just east of the new football stadium at University Park.

The students presented their designs to a jury of alumni, administrators and staff last December. The Top 3 won $500 and the opportunity to share their ideas with the FIU Board of Trustees.

Alumni Relations contributed $10,000 to the architecture program for research and technology. The department brought in experts such as Michael Dennis, a campus planner from Boston, to FIU and held a three-day workshop on Revit, a 3D-design software that automatically coordinates changes to a project and includes construction elements such as plumbing. The architecture students were able to do all their work using this software.

“This was an envisioning exercise,” said Chandler. “These designs will help planners get a sense of what the Alumni Center could be.”

“I couldn’t think of a better place to start than with our students,” said Associate Vice President of Alumni Relations Bill Draughon of the first phase of planning for the multi-story center.

Draughon emphasized the Center should be a “warm and welcoming place,” offering the comforts of home to the university’s 134,000-plus alumni. In 2008, the alumni association ranked No. 1 for membership growth in a national survey of 76 major universities, and exceeded expectations with more than 10 percent of them active, significantly higher than the average for urban public research institutions. Still, FIU is the only university of its size in Florida without an alumni center.

At last year’s Torch Awards Gala, alumni showed their dedication by donating $90,000 for the Alumni Center in one evening without even seeing a rendering. Betty Perry ’74, FIU’s first First Lady, challenged alumni to meet her $10,000 challenge in the hopes of raising funds for “a gathering place for [alumni] who have graduated and/or moved away or maybe aren’t on campus often.” Ten months later, they got their first peek at their investment.

“I’m very impressed with the quality of their work and the diversity of the designs,” said Gayle Bainbridge ’75, past president of the Alumni Association.

The judges – who included Bainbridge, Draughon, Alumni Association President Jose M. Perez de Corcho ’93, Vice President of University & Community Relations Sandy Gonzalez-Levy, Stewart L. Appelrouth ’80, Cookie Gazitua and Michael R. Méndez ’03 – considered every detail during their deliberation. The winners were Geraldine Peña, Andrew Santa Lucia and Susan Aguerri. “I’m amazed at what they came up with and very proud of them,” Draughon said. “We hope to incorporate some of their ideas.”

Soon, alumni and friends will have a place to call home on campus.