University of North Carolina – Asheville, Highsmith Student Center, Asheville, NC
Architect: Lee Nichols Clark Patterson
Located in Asheville, NC is the new 73,920 square foot Student Center for the University of North Carolina – Asheville. The project is a renovation and expansion of the old student center originally built in the early 1980s. The new design is very open, with high ceilings, and is filled with natural light. Most of the rooms are open to the structure above, to a height of up to 30 feet in divisible meeting rooms and lounges. The expanded student center will house offices for the student government, bookstore, food court, pub, post office, and university newspaper to name a few. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2004.
Thorburn Associates is pleased to be providing audiovisual consulting and wireless network infrastructure for this “bar raising” project. Key spaces include a meeting room divisible into 4 separate rooms; 3 additional stand alone meeting rooms; 2 conference rooms; a Pub for live performances (small ensembles, stand-up comedy and open microphone style acts) and a Multipurpose room equipped with a 7.1 surround sound system. Throughout the facility a digital bulletin signage system will be utilized.