EUGENE -- The University of Oregon unveiled Friday detailed architectural designs for the first phase of a new science complex fueled by a $500 million gift from Phil and Penny Knight.
Construction is expected to begin in early February on a 160,000-square-foot facility on Franklin Boulevard across the street from the school's primary science facilities. The $225 million first phase will include two buildings joined together by a glass terrace. A new pedestrian bridge will connect the new buildings to the main campus, and the designs also include foot bridges over the millrace.
The buildings are expected to be completed in 2020. The university is hoping to raise another $500 million from donors to complete its vision for the campus, which at full buildout is expected to be the research home for at least 30 yet-to-be hired scientists and hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students.
UO President Michael Schill said the project is "much more than a building." He described the first phase of the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact as "inspired, cutting edge and inventive.
"Everything we would expect for a building named for Phil and Penny," he added.
The campus celebration came a little more than a year after the school revealed the $500 million pledge from the Knights, which will be spaced out in $50 million increments over a decade.
Phil Knight graduated from UO in 1959 and ran track. In the past few years, he and Penny have donated or promised more than $1.4 billion to UO, Oregon Health Science University and Stanford University collectively.
For years, observers speculated about when the Knights would pledge a gift in the hundreds of millions to UO for academics. The complex and its focus on pursuing scientific breakthroughs proved to be that project, and the idea came from long-time campus scientists who advocated for more labs and funding.
UO has said the new science complex will focus on aggressively finding scientific solutions to problems big and small. He said the Knight's gift will transform the campus, Eugene-Springfield, Lane County and the state.
The complex will center on applied sciences, such as physics and biochemistry, and eventually be a huge economic driver for the southern Willamette Valley.
The Knights were not in attendance Friday.
"Penny and I are thrilled with the progress that is being made with this new campus," Phil Knight, who co-founded Nike with Bill Bowerman, said in a statement. "We have high hopes that these buildings and the people inside them will do great things for our university and the state."
The renderings from Portland-based Bora Architects and New York-based Ennead Architects show a light-filled facility that one official described as two L-shaped pavilions that come together "like clasped hands," with an airy enclosed atrium. The buildings on the north side of Franklin Boulevard between Onyx Street and Riverfront Parkway are designed to represent the collaborative scientific spirit UO hopes to infuse throughout the building.
UO had hoped to receive $100 million in bonds from the state during the 2017 Legislative session, but lawmakers instead approved $50 million. The university expects to receive another $50 million during the next biennium.
Patrick Phillips, the acting director of the Knight campus, thanked lawmakers for backing the project.
Throughout the afternoon press event, which included a reception and placards with renderings for the crowd to see after the unveiling, Phillips and others took time to thank the Knights for believing in the school's capacity for greatness.
Phillips said the Knights haven't weighed in on designs, but they have always pushed the UO to try for excellence. Phillips told the crowd he never forgot that encouragement.
"It's almost like a voice is whispering in our ear," he said, "be great, be great, be great."
-- Andrew Theen
atheen@oregonian.com
503-294-4026
@andrewtheen