Mapping Meaning, the Journal (Issue No. 2)

UO Black Cultural Center
Daisy’Olice I. Williams
proposed Center needed to fulfill dual needs:
to be a nucleus for black student life on
campus, and offer support to community
groups who provide critical programming for
the study, preservation, and advancement of
black traditions and heritage.
In addition to student support and event
space, our program included community
gathering rooms, permanent exhibit space,
a rotating gallery, reflection space, and
a studio/office for a scholar in residence
program. Many student projects pushed
the civic possibility of the center further by
incorporating performance theaters and
special collections archives.
Our project occupies the same site as
the real UO Black Cultural Center project
with extended boundaries that could
accommodate a larger program and provide
conditions that speak to the public nature of
the proposed facility.
The corner site is located at the eastern
margins of campus, marking a clear transition
between campus buildings and residential
neighborhood. It is an edge condition that
will someday become a prominent formal
gateway into campus as new projects
continue to be developed. Primary building
uses within this area include residence halls
and academic support facilities.
However, this area is in the beginning stages
of what could be nudged into becoming a
cultural “district” for the University, with the
Many Nations Long House, Global Scholars
Residence Hall, and the Museum of Natural
and Cultural History to its immediate west,
and Maude Kerns Art Gallery to its east.
The Mathew Knight Arena is also in close
proximity to the north and visible from our
site.
Given the transitional nature of the site,
students were asked to propose a redesigned
Right | Jennah Byrd_
Approach: The
building is bisected
into two volumes, with
civic functions like the
museum and archives
housed in a larger
mass that lifts up at the
corner and reaches out
toward the city.
Issue N o 2
43