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A multiyear, $175 million effort to update the University of Portland is wrapping up with development of a modern recreation and wellness center able to fit architecturally in the 112-year-old campus.

The San Francisco office of 360 Architecture and Portland-based Soderstrom Architects are finishing design of the $23 million, 70,000-square-foot center; university officials are hoping to break ground next May.

University officials in 2007-08 started a private fundraising campaign that garnered $105 million. After taking the effort public in 2010, officials now are just $12 million away from their goal. The money has paid for renovations or new construction of dormitories, academic engineering buildings, athletic facilities and performance halls.

“It was time,” said Laurie Kelley, interim vice president of university relations. “In order to be successful and be a university that people want to attend and give back to, you really have to be on the forefront – especially today, when people are looking at the cost of education and the value on the other end.”

The university’s existing Howard Hall recreation center was built in 1927. It features a bare-bones gymnasium, scant natural light and zero seismic stability.

“It’s kind of Hoosier-esque,” Kelley said, in reference to the film about a high school basketball team in the 1950s. “That’s not what students of 2013 want to work out in.”

The new facility will accommodate multiple uses that will be highly visible to passersby. Plans call for three gymnasium courts, an elevated jogging track, a wellness center, group fitness rooms, weight and cardio areas, locker rooms and a 32-foot-tall rock climbing wall.

Wyatt Beard, a 360 Architecture architect and the project’s designer, said the plan is to put those activities on display.

“We really want to see this building function as a beacon for the north end of the campus,” he said. “In doing so what we’re trying to do is light the building from within, and let the activities that all the students and faculty are doing within, shine through.”

The facade will incorporate large, glass windows, and openness will be a theme throughout the building. Beard said the goal is to connect various activities by breaking down the visual barriers between rooms – and perhaps people.

“When we connect different floors and activities within recreation facilities, it really helps foster relationships between students,” he said. “By creating opportunities where you can see what’s going on and learn passively, it helps encourage someone who might be less willing to go forth and try something new. It gives them the personal strength to say, ‘Hey, I think I can do this.’ ”

To incorporate the modern facility into the architectural fabric of an aged campus, 360 Architecture is collaborating with Soderstrom Architects. The Portland firm has designed numerous buildings on UP’s campus, including the Fields and Schoenfeldt residence halls that opened in 2009, and a renovation of the Clark Library.

Dan Danielson, Soderstrom Architects’ managing principal, has been working on the UP campus for the past 23 years. He said it has become more defined and traditional in that time via identifiable quads for different activities – whether academic, athletic or residential.

He said the new recreation center wants to be modern and glassy; however, many of the older buildings are made of brick. So the new design will seek to marry the two.

“Hopefully our guidance helps bridge that modernism with the contextualism of the past,” Danielson said. “It’s not easy.”

For now, he said it’s worth visiting Howard Hall today in order to compare it to the new facility in 18 months. The project is slated for completion in May 2015; Skanska is the project’s construction manager-general contractor.

“I think this is going to be an incredible addition to the campus,” Danielson said. “The students are going to be blown away.”

That’s exactly what university leaders are hoping for.

“It’s a competitive business that we’re in for students,” Kelley said. “We’re attracting the best and the brightest, and we know our competition has recreation and wellness centers like this. We always talk about the … mind, body and (spirit), and this is really that ‘body’ part, where we want our students to be healthy.”

Recent projects completed at the University of Portland include:

• Fields and Schoenfeldt halls – two new buildings, totaling 110,000 square feet, for up to 412 students; opened in 2009; approximate cost: $18.9 million.

• Shipstad Hall – a 70,000-square-foot dormitory for up to 269 students; remodeled in two phases; approximate cost: $3.75 million.

• Villa Maria Hall – a 31,000-square-foot dormitory for up to 150 students; remodeled in two phases; approximate cost: $2.52 million.

• Bauccio Commons – a 14,000-square-foot remodel/expansion (bringing it to 26,000 square feet) completed in 2009 and 2010; approximate cost: $5.87 million.

• Bell Tower addition – a 100-foot bell tower, with 14 bells ranging in size from 77 to 1,400 pounds was dedicated in 2009; approximate cost: $1.8 million.

• Donald P. Shiley Hall – 2008 renovation and expansion of 80,000-square-foot engineering building; approximate cost: $20 million.

• Chiles Center – 2012 renovation and expansion of athletic and convocation center; approximate cost: $4 million.

• Clark Library – 51,000-square-foot renovation completed in August 2013; approximate cost: $13 million.

• Don V. Romanaggi M.D. Hall – 2010 renovation of science building; approximate cost: $125,000.

• Chapel of Christ the Teacher – remodel of 6,000-square-foot chapel completed in 2013; approximate cost: $423,800.

• Clive Charles Soccer Complex – 2007 expansion and remodel of 22,300-square-foot athletic complex; approximate cost: $1.1 million.