|
|
LAWRENCE -- An award-winning architectural firm with extensive experience in historical settings has been selected to design a new women's scholarship hall for the University of Kansas.
Treanor Architects of Lawrence, Kansas City, Mo., and Topeka, was formally selected this week by the Kansas University Endowment Association and university representatives to design the scholarship hall, a $3 million project. The completion of this facility will add an 11th hall to the university's current complex of five men's and five women's scholarship halls by fall 2005.
KU is one of only a few U.S. public universities to offer scholarship halls, which emphasize strong academics, lower than average housing costs and cooperative living arrangements. The Ohio Street hall, the first of two planned for that location in the historic Oread neighborhood, will be home to 50 women students.
"We were very impressed with Treanor's proposal, and we're confident the firm will do a terrific job," said Daryl Beene, KU Endowment's senior vice president for property.
"Treanor is acclaimed for its design of student living accommodations, and the firm has been recognized for its ability to address historical sensitivities."
Vance Kelley, a Treanor architect who formerly worked with the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office, and Nadia Zhiri, a Treanor principal, both will serve in lead capacities as consultants for the KU project.
Recent awards to Treanor include the 2000 Honor Award of Excellence in Architecture from the Kansas American Institute of Architects for renovation of Lawrence's historic Kansas Seed House, Eighth and New Hampshire streets, into contemporary office and retail space. Treanor also has been widely praised for its renovation of the historic Freshman Hall at Benedictine College in Atchison and the Washburn Living Learning Center in Topeka.
Current projects include the $125 million, multi-year renovation of the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. Among Treanor's recently completed projects are the Lyon County Courthouse in Emporia and the Memorial Union at Washburn University and the YMCA facility, both in Topeka.
-30-