$41-million Lillis Business Complex Opens this Month
November 2003
Open for Business
The University of Oregon'sCharles H. Lundquist College of Business marks a major milestone this month when it unveils a new environmentally friendly, student-centered facility emphasizing cutting-edge teaching spaces for small-group and experiential learning.
The $41-million Lillis Business Complex, more than a year and a half in construction, is already being lauded for its bold design, its energy-saving features, and state-of-the-art, innovative instructional capabilities.
"Perhaps no other single project demonstrates as elegantly and thoughtfully the University of Oregon's capacity to transform lives as the Lillis Business Complex," said UO President Dave Frohnmayer. "It is both the product of the largest fund-raising effort for an academic building in our university's history and a facility that literally grew out of the innovative curriculum of our Lundquist College of Business. We will point to the Lillis Complex with pride for many years to come."
Design Features
Designed by Portland-based SRG Partnership, the 196,500-square-foot complex is visually striking, fronted by a four-story atrium that features scores of photovoltaic panels, which will generate a portion of the facility's electricity needs. Classrooms and offices were carefully positioned to use daylight and can be used almost year-round without electric lighting. Shade controls will regulate temperature and glare, while "smart" lighting not only adjusts to daylight levels, but features sensors that turn off lights and other non-essential items.
The most significant design features in the Lillis Business Complex are those that facilitate the high-quality experiential learning and small-group instruction for which the college is increasingly recognized. Flexible class spaces and small-group team project rooms are a strong departure from the mammoth lecture halls that characterize many other major university business schools.
"The Lillis Business Complex will be nationally prominent as an academic teaching facility created to directly support the educational philosophy and curriculum of a business school," said SRG's Design Principal Kent Duffy. "An extension of the curriculum, the architecture of the building actually enhances the educational mission of the college."
Anchoring the new academic teaching facility will be six tiered caserooms. Seating sixty students each, these caserooms will mirror our emphasis on teamwork and collaborative casework. The design allows for both standard lecture and team breakout sessions to occur within the same teaching space. The Lillis Business Complex also offers wireless network and Internet access, state-of-the-art multimedia equipment, a distance-learning classroom outfitted with teleconferencing technology and more.
The Career Services Center is another important feature to the new facility. The center will include computer stations for job searching, a student work area for researching companies, and a resource room that will contain important information on hundreds of corporations and industries. The center will also include four high quality interview rooms for use by companies coming to campus to interview students.
In addition, the design features six learning centers that cluster student resources, study areas and faculty offices around particular disciplines. Borrowing the "huddle zone" concept from the corporate world, these shared spaces will encourage interaction by bringing together faculty and students with common interests.
Private Support
Perhaps just as impressive as the design is the fact that the complex has been funded almost entirely with private gifts, the most prominent of which was a $14 million donation from former MediaOne Group Chairman Chuck Lillis, Ph.D '72 and his wife, Gwen. The entire campaign raised more than $39-million in private support, making it the largest privately funded academic building in UO history.
"Through the incredible generosity of many individuals and corporations, we've created a complex that will set the standard for business schools worldwide," said Philip Romero, dean of the Lundquist College of Business. "The Lillis Complex is a monument to the forward thinking of all who made this project happen--which many said couldn't be done. This facility was designed from the ground up to activate our college's approach to learning. It facilitates experiential learning and promises to be a landmark, both for this campus and for business education nationally."
Growing Aspirations
The Lillis Business Complex will have an immediate and dramatic effect on the Lundquist college's ability to provide a world-class business education to its students. The new educational environment will also help the college achieve its growing aspirations, recruit top students and faculty, and enable the college to better work in partnership with the business community, which played a key part in making the new building possible.
In recent years the Lundquist College of Business has made significant strides in excellence. The 119-year-old college has earned plaudits for the quality of its programs. The Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship earned accolades earlier this year from both U.S.News & World Report and Entrepreneur magazine as one of the best such institutes in the nation. Similarly, the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center is the leading academic center of its kind, recognized as an authoritative resource by sports journalists across the country and praised for its expert preparation of students to enter the world of sports business.
Ribbon Cutting
The ribbon cutting celebration on October 24 is open to the public and begins at 11:00 am on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon. To RSVP or find out more information visit the Open for Business web site or call (541) 346-3370.
The college's faculty and staff will move into the complex immediately. Courses in the new facility are scheduled to commence with the start of the Winter Term, which begins January 5th, of next year.
Open for Business