Letter to the editor Jan. 23

Student Experience Center
Design could have been better

While the architectural firm designing the Student Experience Center understandably made an attempt to match the new building with the Memorial Union, the latest design looks like something seen in a suburban corporate office park 15 years ago.

The prefabricated concrete — on the fourth floor, and between the second and third floors — is a significant contributor to its unattractiveness.

Also, the building looks boxy.

While placating historical interests is reasonable, not enough emphasis was placed on creating a stunning, architecturally beautiful edifice. Too bad. Oregon State University deserves to have a student center that isn’t so dull. We could have done a lot better, especially since this is such a prominent location on campus.

Josh Kahan
Master of Agriculture, 1990