Roux Institute Campus Development | Portland

I like the look of the metal panels (assuming they are metal?) in "The Terrace at the Round" view but I'm wondering when they add to that building in a future phase, will the older materials match the new especially given the salt water on the immediate coast. Or maybe the rest of the building would have a different design.
 
Tom Nevers said:
Just a few more screen grabs of slides from the presentation.

The presenters noted that the granite facade of the academic building is intended to be an homage to the Bailey Island Bridge. They also drew attention to the use of mass timber seen in the third screen shot included below.

They mentioned a planned construction start date of summer 2024 and hope to open the campus in 2027.

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I really appreciate the Academic Building's thoughtful design and the way it maximizes the water views and creates a welcoming courtyard. Unfortunately the concrete box of a Parking Structure will be the tallest, bulkiest and potentially most prominent building on the site. In the renderings the garage is all dressed up in panels, but those will likely be first to go in value engineering. Ugh.

Why build the parking garage in phase 1? There is more than enough room along the highway to have a flat lot for this phase and let folks admire the academic building from the Eastern Prom and passing over Tukey's Bridge without that garage in view.

I wish the City would ask them to consider building the academic building first and holding off on the garage – then, as the school begins to thrive and they need more land for housing/mixed uses, then phase in structured parking.

It's not as though the open space along the highway overpasses is prime parkland – let it be a parking lot for now.
 
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My thought on this is that it allows Roux to go to Phase 2 quickly without disturbing parking. Residential, hotel, etc will use that at a later date. If you build it, they will come. I know we hate parking garages, but they do serve a purpose.
 
Echoing others here, but I think the academic building as rendered looks gorgeous. Really like that mix of materials and the non-boxy design. Cool to see the pedestrian/bike infrastructure upgrades planned as well which will better connect that side of Portland with the peninsula. Not a fan of the 7 story parking garage. Good thoughts above, GIL.
 
No boutique hotel or creative housing? It seems antithetical to the idea of creating technologies for the future, that ALL of the students will be arriving from multiple locations in a car or shuttle van. The neighborhood will now see more traffic--a lot more. When you mention a "hotel" most in Maine think of tourists wandering around. This is not that. It's students and related visitors spending the majority of their time here, M-F. A small boutique hotel and restaurant (rooftop is best) designed for the school would become a nice respite from the school environment. I can see students calling rideshares to go into the Old Port for long lunches and evening bar crawls. Many of them will be older than college age, and those attending to improve their business models will be in their 30s and perhaps into their 40s. They aren't eating or drinking in a cafeteria M-F. A van won't do it. This is not summer camp. Roux needs to think this one out a bit more.
 
TC_zoid said:
No boutique hotel or creative housing? It seems antithetical to the idea of creating technologies for the future, that ALL of the students will be arriving from multiple locations in a car or shuttle van. The neighborhood will now see more traffic--a lot more. When you mention a "hotel" most in Maine think of tourists wandering around. This is not that. It's students and related visitors spending the majority of their time here, M-F. A small boutique hotel and restaurant (rooftop is best) designed for the school would become a nice respite from the school environment. I can see students calling rideshares to go into the Old Port for long lunches and evening bar crawls. Many of them will be older than college age, and those attending to improve their business models will be in their 30s and perhaps into their 40s. They aren't eating or drinking in a cafeteria M-F. A van won't do it. This is not summer camp. Roux needs to think this one out a bit more.
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This is just for the first phase of the campus.

The academic building will take longer to build, so my understanding is that other site plans for hotel / residential will follow once the academic building and garage are under construction so that everything will open at roughly the same time. They also want to stagger construction so as not to overwhelm the neighborhood with multiple simultaneous projects.
 
Roux Institute Academic Building 1.png


Roux Institute Academic Building 2.png
Roux Institute Bean Building 1.png
 
Interesting choice by architects, planners and the institution to place the Child Care center as an extension of the seven story parking structure, so the children will be as close as possible to the gas-fumes of those humdreds of vehicles —
 
GIL said:
Interesting choice by architects, planners and the institution to place the Child Care center as an extension of the seven story parking structure, so the children will be as close as possible to the gas-fumes of those humdreds of vehicles —
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Wait....this isn't going to be EV only? Are you sure we are talking about a world renown university and leading green city?
 
Thanks nomc, anyone have an idea when construction may start?
 
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