University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire New Education Building
Located on the Chippewa River, this regional comprehensive university’s unique urban setting offers great opportunities while posing numerous challenges. SmithGroup worked with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC) to craft a responsive master plan that immediately allowed the institution to move forward with major improvements.
Client
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Location
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Markets/Services
Architecture, Higher Education, Learning & Innovation Spaces, Programming
Size
182,000 SF
Featured Awards
2014 Build Wisconsin Award, Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin
Even in its incomplete stage, it is exquisite, nicely evocative of Schofield and sensitive to the context. It's not easy to get large buildings right, but this one does it. My thanks to you and SmithGroup.
Jeffrey M. Kosloske
Senior Architect, Office of Capital Planning and Budget University of Wisconsin System Administration
A process involving many constituents led to a plan that gained wide consensus within the UWEC and Eau Claire communities. Key features include a reinvented on-campus housing and dining experience and a reorientation of campus to take better advantage of its riverfront location. A more integrated system of open spaces and pedestrian connections connects the campus across a river and over a 100-foot bluff. A complete space needs analysis and phasing/implementation plan make the document an indispensable guide for the next 20 years of campus development.
The SmithGroup team also provided architectural and site design for Centennial Hall, UWEC’s first new academic facility in nearly two decades. The $30.5 million building enables UWEC to consolidate its Colleges of Education and Human Sciences within a state-of-the-art facility sensitively incorporat
