KATY HAR
It’s the end of the Wilk as we know it and I feel fine.
After more than 30 years of serving BYU’s students, the Wilkinson Student Center is undergoing major changes.
The motivation for the renovation is modernization, said Dick Aland, construction manager for Student Auxiliary Services.
“We are upgrading the electrical and mechanical systems and adding new space,” Aland said.
An example of new space is the former West Court. The court, which was outside, will be enclosed into the building and changed into a large, two-level, multi-use space with a balcony around the second floor and a skylight on top, Aland said.
“The addition is one of the most exciting pieces of work we are doing,” Aland said. “We are creating a large open space that we hope will be used by everybody.”
The final product will be a “brand-new building,” said Troy North, project supervisor from Gramoll Construction.
“Mechanically, the building will be a lot more comfortable,” North said. “It will be cool in the summer when needed and warm in the winter when needed.”
Not only will the new Wilk be bigger, brighter and more wheelchair-accessible, it will also be safer, North said.
Large, concrete “shear walls” are replacing glass walls throughout the Wilk. In the case of an earthquake, the wall panels would take movement out of the building and minimize the damage, North said.
“The shear walls were an elective BYU chose to budget into the project to upgrade the earthquake requirements of the building,” North said.
The wall panels are made of a stronger concrete than the concrete used for a normal foundation wall, he added.
To accommodate the construction of shear walls around the elevator shaft in the Wilk, heating and air conditioning will be down on the first, second and third floors for approximately six to eight weeks, Aland said.
“We tried to choose a time for this when the weather would not be too hot or too cold to do this,” Aland said.
The new Wilk will also be home to many branches of Student Life that were previously found in other buildings. The area of the former Memorial Lounge will include the Placement Center, Student Employment, Career Counseling and Personal Counseling, Aland said.
The Memorial Lounge will be relocated to the east lounge area and extended onto the veranda area, Aland added.
“We took away the original Memorial Lounge, but to compensate we’ve created several smaller lounges throughout the building,” he said.
Several services will exchange locations. The Lost and Found will move to Cougar Creations, Cougar Creations will move to Outdoors Unlimited, and Outdoors Unlimited is moving to the southeast corner of the Wilk, Aland said.
The Cougareat and the ELWC Cafeteria will stay in the same location, but will have a “whole new look,” Aland said.
“We’ll have room for innovation and new things,” said Paul Johnson, assistant director of Food Services in the Wilk. “Especially in the food business, innovation is the key word.”
The new Cougareat will have an open, “food court” appearance with more national franchises, Johnson said. Rather than having a general paying area, each food station will have its own cash register.
“Most students have grown up with the fast food experience,” Johnson said. “That’s what the students wanted, and the national franchises were in tune with that as well.”
The ELWC Cafeteria, once a separate entity, will be joined with the Cougareat and supervised by one management team, Johnson said.
North recommends that students be aware of construction changes.
“Please take the time to know how to get where you’re going,” North said. “It’s also extremely important to keep clear of the construction. If it looks dangerous, it probably is.”
The projected completion date for the Wilk renovation is the spring of 1998, although parts of the Wilk will be open and operating by April or May of next year, North said.
Myrna Barber/Daily Universe
PICK-UP STICKS: Construction continues on the Ernest L. Wilkinson Center this fall. The new Wilk, which features a renovated West Court, branches of Student Life, the ELWC Cafeteria and Cougareat, is scheduled for completion in the spring of 1998.
