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Willie and Don Tykeson Hall at the University of Oregon
Submitting Company: OFFICE 52 Architecture
Location: Eugene
Cost: $32 million
Start Date: February 2016
Completion Date: October 2019
Owner/Developer: University of Oregon
Architect: OFFICE 52 Architecture
Engineer: Systems West Engineers
Additional Engineering Firms: Hohback Lewin, KPFF
Other Associates/Consultants: RMA Studio, Brightworks Sustainability, PLACE Studio, Rowell Brokaw as the Architect-of-Record, Systems West Engineers, Narduli STUDIO
General Contractor: Fortis Construction
Subcontractors: Aggreko, Alliant Systems, American Concrete, BrandSafway Services, Cash’s Drapery, Center Pointe Signs, Crawford, Drummond & Associates, Culver Glass, Custom Designed Skylights, Davidson’s Masonry, Delta AV, Delta Construction, Finish Line Concrete Cutting, Interior/Exterior Specialist, Interior Technology, J.S. Perrott & Co., Knife River Corporation-Northwest, L&M Industrial Fabrication, Mac Group, McDonald & Wetle, Metro Tint, Ness & Campbell Crane, OEG, Omlid & Swinney, Paragon Tile & Stone, Pence/Kelly Concrete, Pioneer Waterproofing, Portland Fasteners, Pure Floors, Rexius Forest By Products, Rubenstein’s Contract Carpet, Scofield Electric, Siemens Industry, Sign Wizards, Standard TV & Appliance, Stedman Sheetmetal, Streimer Sheet Metal Works, The Harver Company, ThyssenKrupp Elevator, Urban Lumber, Western Partitions

The University of Oregon in Eugene has a large collection of historic campus buildings, but the university is also experiencing a wave of new construction to accommodate a growing student body.

One of the most recent additions is a modern, new academic center that spurred architects from Office 52 Architecture to utilize a blend of old and new materials to help it blend in. Terracotta has been used for centuries to decorate building exteriors and interiors, due to its malleability and ease of use. For the new Willie and Don Tykeson Hall, firm principals Michelle LaFoe and Isaac Campbell were strongly drawn to this aesthetic even as they drew up plans for a unique facility that offers academic advising, career services, tutoring in mathematics and other subjects and event space.

Today’s terracotta, however, is a far cry from that used in the past. Modern fabrication allowed for the creation of high-performance rainscreens for the new building that are built with terracotta. These provide state-of-the-art thermal benefits with greater design flexibility than brick. They form three interlocking volumes: one with a glass curtainwall; another clad in patterned brick; the third and largest is highlighted by a terracotta rainscreen made of 3,100 glazed panels colored in a palette of five hues that mimic the Pacific Northwest landscape and sky.

An open-joint system required no sealants, gaskets or other materials that can potentially deteriorate over time. General contractor Fortis Construction built the resulting 64,000-square-foot facility.