EUGENE–For the second time in three years, Chris Ramey, AIA, director of the University of Oregon Planning Office and university architect, has received a case study award for excellence in campus design from the Association of University Architects.

This year, the award was given for the Erb Memorial Union (EMU) Amphitheater at East 13th and University in the heart of the UO campus. Ramey will present the case study and receive the award at the association’s annual meeting, June 20—24, in Pittsburgh.

The case study, entitled "Spaces for Communities to Exchange Ideas: A 50 Year History of a Space Returned to its Community," traces the history of the gathering space in front of the EMU. It started as a grassy knoll, turned into an unwelcoming underpass, and finally ended up as an amphitheater with a free-speech platform where students and others can listen to speakers and meet for activities.

"Much of the learning at the university occurs outside the classroom setting," Ramey says. "That’s what makes universities unique. The EMU Amphitheater space is a meeting place for chance encounters as well as planned events."

The award is one of four national awards in the Case Study Award Program, which was established to promote the exchange of ideas in the 100-member Association of University Architects. Each award competes with anywhere from 30 to 40 entries nationwide.

"The major responsibility for the wonderful project we enjoy today lies with Fred Tepfer from our office who provided the leadership during the planning; Larry Gilbert, of Cameron McCarthy Gilbert landscape architects, who provided the design; the Wildish Construction Co., who built it; and Stan Jones, with his landscape architecture students, who provided the planting plans and labor," says Ramey. "Of course, none of this would have been possible without EMU Director Dusty Miller’s leadership and the initiative of former student body president Matthew Scotten."

The EMU Amphitheater, which opened to students in spring of 1998, was built to commemorate a century of student involvement and to re-create opportunities for free speech. Its construction marked the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) in 1997.

Ramey previously received a Case Study Award from the Association of University Architects in 1997 for a case study on the Knight Library renovation and expansion project.

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