Opinion | Dylan Spradlin
The very first student unions were constructed in England for the universities of Cambridge and Oxford in the early 1800s to give their students a place to express their opinions and debate the topics of the time. The U.S. introduced its first student union at the prestigious Harvard university in 1832 for the same reason. It wasn’t until 1997 that Tallahassee Community College established its student union, and very soon it will be reopened after an extensive redesign.
With all of the TCC Student Union redesign project’s prerequisites fulfilled on Feb. 21, 2021, at an estimated cost of $2,586,765.97, construction is expected to be completed by Dec. 24. After awarding the contract to Mad Dog Construction management company, Mad Dog then hired BKJ architecture firm, whose founder Bonnie Davenport, a licensed architect, and contractor, began the redesigning of the union. Davenport sat down with the Talon’s Dylan Spradlin to share a little bit about herself and details about the student union’s renovation.
Davenport thinks about what her design style is used in most projects
“I would say we tend to lean towards a more modern clean lines kind of aesthetic; however, we have the ability and have done plenty of traditional buildings as well. If you look at our website, and you look at our work I think you’re going to see what would be considered a more modern up-to-date clean line kind of feel.”
Davenport talks about some of the new additions to the union and discusses the experience she had directing this project
“I mean the whole union, we couldn’t be more excited about that project, it’s really turning out very nicely. The kind of overriding goal of that project was to modernize, refresh, and energize the space to really promote getting students on the space to use the space. And that was exciting, and I think we did it in a lot of really unique ways where we are providing a wide range of seating areas: some that are definitely more intimate and private and some that are more open, some for larger groups and smaller groups.”
“We’ve got a whole area for gaming and all of the monitors for gaming, I mean it’s definitely a more exciting space, and it was time for a refresh.”
“I love the new ceilings in there. It pulls people in and modernizes the space.”
“The new guardrails on the staircase I think are a big improvement, and the seating platform underneath I think will be a great place for students to spend time.”
“This project has been a joy to work on. TCC facility and staff, and everybody we’ve dealt with that had a hand in this project has been great and very easy to work with and really helped us turn our ideas to reality.”
Davenport provides her opinion on whether there is a “perfect” structure in the world.
“There are a lot of beautiful and amazing structures in this world, and I think the beauty of architecture is that there’s no such thing as perfection, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. That’s kind of what makes architecture so great, there is always room to revise, tweak, and improve and it can go on forever because there’s always an opportunity. That is kind of the good and bad of this profession.”
