Redesigned memorial union enhances MSUM campus

By Lisa Gibson

A newly redesigned Comstock Memorial Union at Minnesota State University Moorhead is open to students, adding 3,110 square feet of entry and day-lit lounge space, and significantly updating the look of the existing space.

Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Cuningham Group Architecture Inc. and design partner Workshop Architects, of Milwaukee, completed the project in July 2016, so students who returned in the fall were welcomed by the fully furnished and improved union, says Kathryn Wallace, Cuningham Group principal. Student feedback this semester has been positive, according to Cuningham Group.

Beyond the lounge, the expansion adds a coffee house, student organization office, collaboration areas and a fireplace. The design uses a significant amount of glass for natural lighting.

Wallace says a few reasons were behind the expansion and redesign. “First, as part of a campuswide effort to support recruitment and retention, there was a need to make the union more attractive, and better able to support student engagement and involvement,” she says. “It had been over 20 years since a prior modernization, and the spaces didn’t reflect current patterns of student recreation and involvement, such as video gaming, hanging out, studying enabled by smart phones, laptops and wireless.” Student organizations need to be more connected with student lounge areas, she adds.

In addition, the Student Senate supported the overhaul with an increase to student activity fees to help fund the project, and food venues in the existing union had seen a loss of business, Wallace says. Attracting more students to the union could help.

The project cost $6.51 million, according to Cuningham Group, and was funded through cash reserves and capital bonding provided through the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Revenue Bond funds, Wallace says. “The union itself had nearly half the funding in reserves, built up over time from the designated student fees.”

Student body president Charles Bergman says in a statement that the union was “closed off” before the renovation, all areas separated from each other. “It wasn’t as open as it is now,” he says. “I’ve already picked out a few of my favorite chairs.” PB