Architecture

A Welcoming Gateway to a Unique Architectural Experience

University of Providence’s New University Center

The University of Providence has a new green building on campus. The University is one of the primary education and workforce providers in Montana and is expanding very quickly. The new University Center houses the campus welcome center, student services office, administration offices, an IT center, classrooms, distance learning studios, and the new Trinitas Art Gallery. Ron van der Veen, architect at NAC, discusses the project below.

What is the genesis of this building’s design?

After initially reviewing the project description for the University of Providence University Center construction, Student Center re-design, campus renovation, and campus master plan, our team felt this wasn’t really something we could take on at that time due to workload. But, once we discovered that virtually the whole city of Great Falls was on a very north/south grid, except this little campus east of downtown, it seemed like such a great project, and we took it on anyway. The campus was uniquely designed on a 15-degree angle. That really caught our attention, and eventually we came to find that everything about the institution was special. The campus was beautifully designed in the “International Style” by a local firm in the early 1960s. At the start of the project, we walked on to a campus that hadn’t been touched for 50 years. It was worn and outdated, of course, with no sustainable features, but it had character and provenance. As a matter of fact, since little remodeling had been done, we felt it was still a very pure example of mid-century architecture that should be preserved and celebrated. But its history was a mystery to our team. We wanted to better understand how this beautiful example of International Style architecture ended up in Great Falls, which in the early 60’s was all but a mountain village.

Phase one of the project included meeting with the sisters at Providence and offsite visits with the original architect, Vincent Werner. I visited Vincent in an elderly care facility in Missoula more than a few times during the project to get his perspective and input. He infused into us the spirit and…