BLACK CULTURAL CENTER

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON - FALL 2017

Project Description

Situated on the eastern edge of the University of Oregon campus, the Black Cultural was meant to serve as the new home of the Black Student coalitions at the university, as well as to serve as a cultural and communal gathering hub for the greater black Eugene residents. Housed inside the buildings included a two-level library, gallery space, function hall, a 200-seat lecture hall, social lounge space, and sacred gathering/monument space located on the exterior of the building. The way in which I chose to tackle the wide ranging list of program requirements for this studio was by making the buildings’ program be split into two wings, connected by unifying central area that would house a large share of the more casual social gathering areas. Both of the wings branching off the central hub are sized and shaped in the same way as a way to represent the equal importance that each wing represents. It is to symbolize the equal importance of academic education as well as cultural education. My favorite part of this project was my sacred gather space that I located just outside the central atrium area of the building. The space is composed of two symetrical curving ramps down into a lowered gathering area, with both ramps flanked by zero-edge waterful walls flowing over gloss black granite walls etched with meaningful quotes by famous black American figures and black alumni of the University of Oregon.