SA initiates campaign to redesign Student Center

By Joey Capparella     9/27/12 7:00pm

 

Students may want to get their blueprints ready and creative juices flowing because they could have a say in what a new student center will look like. 

A campus-wide competition in conjunction with the Centennial Celebration and sponsored by the Student Association will allow students to submit designs for a new student center, according to SA External Vice President Yoonjin Min. Min, a Jones College junior, said the goal of this competition is to introduce student voices into conversations about a new student center. 

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"The student center had been a big priority ever since we had discussions on the [Asset Liquidation Funds Appropriation] committee," Min said. "We came up with this competition at a leadership summit this fall and thought that it would be a great way to get students involved in changing something that matters to students."

SA Senator Min Ji Kim is a member of the SA's Student Center Campaign Task Force. Kim, a Lovett College sophomore, said the student design competition is part of a larger Student Center campaign put together by the SA. 

"The campaign's goal is to capture the attention of the administration and donors to let them know that a new student center is a priority for students," Kim said. "Compared to many other universities' student centers, the [Rice Memorial Center] is a lot smaller and less useful."

According to Kim, the campaign's next steps will include talking to various campus organizations and student groups that use the current student center. 

"We're trying to assemble suggestions from organizations that use the RMC, like Willy's Pub, Coffeehouse and the Office of International Programs to see what they use the current RMC for," Kim said. "After that, we're looking to assemble a collage of photos and suggestions to show how a larger, more resourceful student center would benefit all of these different organizations."

Kim said this same type of SA campaign was what brought about the new Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center a few years ago. 

Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby said students have greatly influenced other building projects in the past as well. 

"Student input has been instrumental in past projects, like the building of Duncan [College] and McMurtry [College]," Kirby said. "The original plan was to add two new colleges on the south side of campus, but students expressed a desire to balance out the student population between south and north colleges."

The competition opened on Sept. 24, and entries are due by Oct. 5. According to the competition's website, any medium will be accepted for this competition, including digital designs, sketches, sculptures and even designs in the "Sims" video game. Prizes will be awarded to the winners, with $500 for first place, $300 for second place and $200 for third place. Min said this money would come out of the SA budget. 

Brown College senior Cheryl Hu, an architecture student, said she was not aware of the competition. 

"I'm surprised that I haven't heard about it at [Anderson Hall]," Hu said. "I feel like lots of architecture students would be interested. It sounds like a fun way to procrastinate on studio work." 

Min said the competition would be open to all students regardless of major. 

"This is not just for architecture students," Min said. "Since the competition is on such a quick timeline, we're not looking for full designs that are architecturally sound. This is more for conceptual ideas and drawings, so anyone who is artistically inclined is encouraged to participate." 

Min said the committee was still working out whether the winners would be decided through a student vote or by a panel of judges. 

"We're hoping that this competition will be a way for the whole campus to come together and collaborate to change something," Min said. "Ideally, the winning ideas will be presented to the Facilities, Engineering and Planning Department to see if they can take these designs and go somewhere with them in the future." 

Kirby said student input would be most important in the future for what he called the pre-design stage of the project for a new student center. 

"The pre-design stage is when everything is taken into account in terms of what is needed for the space, and student engagement would be especially important for a project like the student center," Kirby said. 

Kirby said the administration has already been collecting student data about the student center and that entries for the design competition could definitely be influential in the pre-design process. 

For now, Kirby said next steps in the process are dependent on finding potential donors for the project, which he says could cost up to $40 million. 

"The Rec Center and the Brochstein Pavilion are examples of projects that had a transformative effect on the Rice campus, and the student center will be the same," Kirby said. "Students made a strong statement through the ALFA committee that a new student center was something that mattered to them, and it's among President [David] Leebron's highest priorities." 

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