ZGF Architects' Gene Sandoval talks about UO's Casanova Center expansion

Rendering of planned Casanova Center expansion (image courtesy ZGF/UO)

Today is the final day before the biggest football game in the history of the state of Oregon, with the Ducks heading into tomorrow's annual Civil War against archrival Oregon State with a slot in the national championship game on the line. Oregon has been playing football since 1894, and in 116 years the team has never come close to a moment like this: a potentially perfect season atop the college football world.

Taking a few moments from my fetal position on the floor, where I'm writing with nervous tension over my beloved Ducks once-in-several-lifetimes opportunity, I spoke by phone with ZGF Architects partner Gene Sandoval about the ambitious new architecture planned for the land surrounding Autzen Stadium. Sandoval assures me that tomorrow's game is actually not a once-in-several-lifetimes moment, because the coalescence of head coach Chip Kelly's genius with benefactor Phil Knight's riches and ambition will mean a very bright future for the program.

Alternately known as an expansion to the existing Casanova Center and as a "football operations center" of its own, the new building will be series of glass and metal boxes meant to evoke the nature of football itself.

Rendering of planned Casanova Center expansion (image courtesy ZGF)

Featured in the expansion, which will wrap around the north and west sides of the Casanova Center, will be a new 25,000-square-foot weight room, an enhanced grass football practice field as well as the addition of two new synthetic turf practice fields, and a full-service dining facility available to all University athletes, students and staff.

The ground floor of the six-story center will feature a lobby and reception area celebrating Ducks football history program, giving way to a centralized football operations center upstairs that will include nine dedicated football position meeting rooms, two team video theaters, offense and defense strategy rooms as well as a larger conference suite for the entire coaching staff. The centralized area will be flanked by office and locker facilities for coaches, staff and student-athletes. Additional amenities will include a players' lounge, a recruiting center to host prospective student-athletes, dedicated areas to accommodate professional scouts, a media interview room as well as an advanced video editing and distribution center.

A new outdoor courtyard and plaza to the west of the Casanova Center is designed in the center of the complex, uniting the expansion with the existing Cas Center and Moshofsky Center.

Rendering of planned Casanova Center expansion (image courtesy ZGF)

"The idea of the building  is about collective strength that comes from individuals," Sandoval said. "So it’s a series of stacked boxes, like Lego boxes, that make a form. We want to celebrate each piece and make it sing. In some ways that’s analogous to a team: they all have different positions, but it’s about making a congruent entity."

The building will be clad in glass and metal, hoping to strike a balance between protection and openness. "The exterior envrolope takes on the notion of armor and pads, so it’s going to be a black suit of armor," Sandoval added. "But it’s translucent armor. It’s glass. There is this sort of play between strength and accessibility. We’re formidable but open. All the ground floor is glass and all the meeting rooms. It’s about texturing and layering."

"We intentionally situated the ground floor so it's all public rooms and transparent, to invite people into the bilding. All the rooms that needed privacy are elevated about 30 feet up. They become this notion of the cloister, where you can go and reflect and learn and strategize."

Although most of the new square footage is devoted to the football program, this will free up substantial space in the existing Casanova Center for other sports.

"It’s not just about football. It’s about building a sports community," the architect continued. "But this building does represent Chip Kelly’s notion of football: we build our own future. We’re all about the best and the latest. We’re open to anything that makes us better. He’s an amazing man. And he’s also very savvy. Chip is really about changing and reinventing football, not only in terms of strategy with offense or defense but the way he trains people. And he needs a place for this. It’s really a pedagogy. The building is about supporting chip Kelly and the mission of moving forward. And built into it is the flexibility to change over time."

Comments

[ArchVisualize]

Beautiful architecture! I wish the images were given some recognizable context. What is its relationship to Autzen Stadium and PK park?

[j]

Brian,
Do you know what will happen to the existing facilities in the Casanova Center and how old it is? If memory serves, it currently has the locker rooms and weight room (among other flashy recruiting areas). It's not entirely clear from your post, but it makes me cringe to read that the U of O is already upgrading a "state of the art" facility that is less than 10 years. It's great the ducks are doing so well, but seriously?