Education

New Dining Facility Under Construction At UMass Amherst Campus

SouthCourtView UMass Amherst BrunerCott

South Court View UMass Amherst – rendering by Bruner Cott

Amherst, MA—Construction is well underway on newly designed and expanded dining facilities at the 11-story Lincoln Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Lee Kennedy Company is the general contractor on the project that is due to be completed this fall.

UMass Amherst Auxiliary Enterprises and Bruner/Cott & Associates, Inc.  traveled to some of the nation’s leading retail dining venues in higher education to evaluate their programs and recreate the same high quality dining experience at the Lincoln Campus Center.

The area will have expanded seating capacity in a range of table formats, all in a modern, revitalized atmosphere.

The Lincoln Campus Center was constructed in 1970 and designed by noted architects Marcel Breuer and Herbert Beckhard. The  cast-in-place concrete-framed building contains approximately 284,000gsf of area.

The building houses a 111-room hotel complex for campus visitors, a large auditorium, meeting rooms, banquet and special event spaces, and a 2nd floor concourse which contains a bookstore, and several dining and retail outlets which are the subject of the proposed project.

Located at a major crossroads on the UMass campus, the design will include the total renovation and reconfiguration of the existing dining presentation, service, and environment. This includes new exhibition cooking, enhanced menu offerings, improved seating environments, and new interior finishes and lighting. Transparency and natural light will be greatly improved with added skylights and open floor plan that allows visibility to all areas across the west to east edges. New circulation will strengthen connections for student traffic and adjacent buildings. Speed and quality of service are critical goals of the re-design, that will improve convenience and increase patronage.

The new layout and light materials will introduce and openness, creating a physical and visible connection and transparency within and without, specifically towards the lawn which will be entered through a new glazed covered vestibule.