The Maine construction company responsible for building Gorham’s technologically apt and efficient John Mitchell Center is at work again-and being watched.
The property recently aquired from Portland Plastic Pipe is being filmed from atop the Glickman Library and Masterton Hall and reloaded every few seconds, Wright Ryan’s progress on the Wishcamper Center, a part of the University Commons project, is converted to a constant stream of progress available via webcam.
The Wishcamper Center and the expansion of the Osher Map Library, on which early signs of construction are beginning to be seen next to the Glickman Library, are meant to be visible indicators of the progress of the university, according to the 2004 “Transforming USM” campaign.
The $25 million campaign regards the University Commons as its centerpiece. There are three main goals: to grow the University of Southern Maine’s endowment to ensure a solid base for the future of USM, to expand the Annual Fund and to build University Commons.
And not only build it, to build it well.
Chosen to design the spotlighted project, Koetter Kim & Associates are renowned specialists in urban design and architecture. This year, the Boston firm has won design awards in Korea and designed waterfront projects in Beirut and Toronto.
They are a huge name in university architecture, recently designing for MIT, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown University.
Besides their notable work, they have a firm in London and pride themselves on being largely woman and minority-run. Six architects, including Susie Kim, were part of the USM project.
In the name of being a university in the forefront of responsible design, the Commons will be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, meeting the U.S. Green Building Council’s nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.
Part of the building will be home to the Muskie School of Public Sevice, named for the late governor, senator, and secretary of state, Ed Muskie.
In 1968, the Maine Senator was on the Democratic ticket for Vice President with Hubert Humphrey. The pair was defeated by Nixon. Muskie was responsible for crafting the Federal Clean Air and Clean Water Act, shepherding it through Congress and then on to the President’s desk for signature into law.
The Commons will also house the new national headquarters for OLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which offers programming for students ages 55 and older across the country, on campuses including Duke, UCLA, and The University of California at Berkeley.
The new building will allow OLLI to offer classes every day of the week, rather than just on Fridays, as they do now.
In this way, USM aims to nurture a multi-generational campus.
A green space and plaza area will stretch the length of the University Commons, aiming to provide an area for students and community members to meet in a safe, well-lit area, free from traffic and congestion. A covered, lighted pathway will allow access from the parking garage to the Library or Student Center.
The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education will grow here as well, in a planned addition to the Glickman Library.
In the last few years, the library has had to turn away offers of map collections simply because they did not have the room to accommodate them.
The expansion will bring a much needed education center to the Library, a new, climate controlled vault, a digital imaging and reproduction center, an expanded reference area, an expanded workroom and a new office suite.
The space Portland Plastic Pipe used to reside on will certainly see better days.