The construction of a new market business school will focus on collaboration areas

Participating business students Marquette University They will soon have a building that corresponds to the nature of cooperation in their chosen field.

On Wednesday, contractors were still busy finalizing several punch-list items — pendant lights and tile accents — but an early look offered a clear picture of the collaborative space envisioned for the new building, which will include an open atrium, classrooms, labs and study spaces, event space for the business community, a large outdoor Cafe and faculty offices with park.

Sun streams through the building’s first-floor windows into the Wintrust Gallery, which serves as a study space and peer recreation center. That atrium-like area will include an as-yet-unnamed event space that will double as classroom space once the building opens to students in December.

The new facility will serve hundreds of students from the university’s business school as well as members of the Milwaukee business community at school functions and programs.

Last year, the business school had 1,452 undergraduate students, 374 graduate students and 121 faculty members, including both part-time and full-time professors.

Versatility and cooperation

Laura Strigens, Marquette’s vice president of planning and facilities management, said today, when designing new buildings for campus, the main goal is to create spaces that can perform multiple functions.

“When we built a new square footage for the campus, we wanted to make sure it was as versatile and flexible as possible,” she said. “Really, what we want is a space like this, which can typically be an event space or a classroom, to be as active during the day and night as possible.”

That goal of versatility was evident Wednesday as university staff explained how rooms in the four-story structure would be configured and configured for academic or peer projects.

In addition to finding flexible positions, the goal is for students in the business school to have a ‘classroom experience’ that fits their work environment after they get their first job – mainly working closely with colleagues on goals and projects.

In addition to the rooms themselves, there are also several spaces – open lounge areas and study areas near the corridor and stairs – for student flexibility and collaboration.

“The idea here is just to build a community between students, faculty and staff,” Strigens said.

Donor funding has been provided

The business school project itself was entirely donor funded. More than 250 donors, 60 of whom gave more than $100,000 and 14 who gave $1 million or more, contributed to the two-year fundraising campaign. The building’s name — Dr. EJ and Margaret O’Brien Hall — was chosen by an anonymous donor who gave the university $24 million for the project, said Tim McMahon, Marquette’s vice president for development.

Marquette worked with Kansas City-based BNIM and Milwaukee-based Workshop Architects to design the sunlit brick building. Feindorf remained the prime contractor for the project.

The new business school is the latest in several new construction projects on the university’s campus in recent years, including a new $18.5 million physician assistant research building, a $24 million athletics and human performance research center and a $108 million residence hall on the northwest end. Including. Campus.

After the building is ready for students, faculty and staff this December, campus planners will work on several other projects, including renovating the outgoing business school building — Straz Hall — to become the new home of the school’s College of Nursing and a new Student Success Building, which will be ready sometime in 2024. It is expected. After that, a health and recreation center will be created, which is expected to be ready in early 2025.

“2024 will be a very active year for change on this campus,” Strigens said.