Designers solicit UM rec center ideas

ORONO – University of Maine students had a chance to share their ideas this week with architects and engineers working on the new $16 million student recreation center.

Members from Cannon Design of Boston, the lead architectural and engineering firm on the project, visited the campus Wednesday and Thursday to meet with students and begin the initial stages of design for the building.

“We’re at the very beginning of the design process now,” Tim Whitney, project manager, said Thursday.

The components of the facility, which will be located near what’s known as the Hilltop Quad, already have been decided, but Cannon Design officials want to make sure that the university community has a part in what the facility will look like.

“We’ve found that often the most unique, creative thinking comes from these people,” Whitney said.

Over the two days, more than 30 students visited the Bears Den, the campus pub, to talk with design team members and offer suggestions.

One of the key components of the facility is its proximity to the university’s existing trail system.

“No other institution that I know of has that kind of relationship,” Whitney said. Engineers hope to integrate the jogging, walking, biking, and cross-country skiing trail system into the facility by possibly providing ski rentals, a skate pond, or an ice climbing wall.

Sketches of possible designs for the building on Thursday afternoon lined the walls of the Bears Den, and design team members still were busily sketching out additional ideas.

Representatives from OEST Associates of South Portland and Terrence J. DeWan & Associates of Yarmouth, two firms that will be working with Cannon Design to provide architectural and engineering services for the project, also attended the workshops.

“We just come and work intensively for two days,” Whitney said.

The design process is expected to take about six months, and the university community will be given more opportunities to provide input on the project as the design team moves forward. Construction is slated to begin next fall and be completed by spring of 2007, according to Cannon Design officials.

The engineers and architects will take the approximately 15 to 20 design ideas they created during the workshops and begin to narrow those down. They said they plan to visit the university again in January.