A new multi-million dollar university center is almost done at UW-River Falls and student fees paid for the whole building.

The students and university also designed the building to be environmentally friendly. For the chairs, walls, and cubicles, the $34 million University Center theme is green. But it's more than the color scheme; the green concept stretches through-out the building.

The entire building is designed to be as eco-friendly as possible, both inside and out. The white roof reflects unwanted heat from the sun, and drains on the roof collect rainwater. That water is then filtered back into the building where it's used to flush toilets.

The drains catch almost forty thousand gallons of water if an inch of rain falls. Pipes carry the water to four underground storage tanks which can hold almost 50,000 gallons of water.
Bamboo replaces traditional hardwood, because bamboo forests grow back faster.

The 140,000 square foot university center will be the main building on campus.

“It really sits right in the heart of campus, right on our main campus mall area,” says Mike Stifter, the director of student life facilities. “Its right off of the main sidewalk for the campus. Again, you could not position this building better if you were starting from scratch.”

The building is designed to be practical as well- meeting room doors unlock automatically 15 minutes before people are scheduled to arrive. The furniture is recycled and recyclable.
A center area will have live touch screens to monitor the center's electricity and water usage.

The environmentally friendly attitude doesn't stop in the building though- the entire campus is planning to go green.

“We're one of 4 campuses that have a goal of going off the grid,” Stifter says.

The others are Stevens Point, Green Bay, and Oshkosh. The goal is for each campus to produce as much energy as they use. Stifter hopes the new center is just a start.

“I really do hope this becomes a real hallmark for all the students past, present, and future,” he says.

The University Center should be ready when students come back from their winter break. The grand opening is set for January 22, 2007.