Straub Hall Renovation and Classroom Addition
2015 AIA / SWO People's Choice Award
LEED Gold Certified
Rowell Brokaw Architects in collaboration with Opsis Architecture completed two related projects for the University of Oregon: a comprehensive renovation of Straub Hall and a classroom expansion of Straub and Earl Halls. The Straub Hall renovation project provides much-needed infrastructure replacement and a full interior renovation of a historic building, transforming the historic Straub Hall into an innovative 21st Century academic facility. It includes one of the nation’s finest technically daylit large lecture auditoriums.
Straub Hall was originally built as a dormitory. In the '70s it was re-purposed to be the home of the Psychology Department and the Linguistics Department. The goal of this project is to transform the building into effective, efficient, academic spaces with functioning modern services for faculty and students.
Straub Hall's central location on campus makes it a hub that serves the entire university. The design re-establishes the historic entry from the west porch of Straub Hall directly into the truss-roofed Gable Commons, the former dining hall of the original men’s residence. A new north-south path through to the daylit stair improves circulation to the EMU and 15th Ave. The commons and stair together form a two-story heart where students and faculty can interact outside class.
The classroom expansion project includes approximately 1,000 total classroom seats in a two-story building totaling over 58,000 sf. Classrooms include 500- and 150-seat lecture halls and smaller learning spaces of various sizes organized around central circulation and gathering spaces. Located between an academic building, Straub Hall, and a residential building, the expansion space creates a new connection between campus open spaces.
The entire project provides high-quality academic space within a historic context and meets a critical need for new classroom space at the University of Oregon.
2018 AIA / SWO Design Awards Submission
2015 AIA / SWO People's Choice Award Submission
2014 AIA / SWO People's Choice Award Submission
Project Team
Owner University of Oregon
Architects Rowell Brokaw Architects, PC and Opsis Architecture
Mark Young, AIA Principal-in-Charge; Gregory Brokaw; AIA, John Rowell, AIA; Chris Andrejko, RA; Ken Hutchinson, AIA; Elaine Lawson, AIA; Dan Pyle, RA; Britni Jessup, AIA Associate; Patrick Hannah, AIA Associate; Eleni Tsivitzi
Jim Kalvelage, AIA Principal-in-Charge; Chris Roberts, AIA; Max Frixione, AIA; Lucas Gray; Joe Baldwin; Sam Leoung
Contractor Fortis Construction
Structural Catena Consulting Engineers
Civil KPFF Consulting Engineers
Landscape Cameron McCarthy
MEP Glumac Engineering
Fire Protection Evergreen Engineering
Skylights DeaMor Associates
Daylighting Consultant Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory (ESBL)
LEED Eleni Tsivitzi, LEED AP BD+C, Rowell Brokaw Architects, PC