BEND, OR -- OSU-Cascades invites the public to tour its latest expansion project next week, "To see the incredible land remediation that’s underway to create the first eight acres of an eventual 24-acre Innovation District," says Christine Coffin, with the Bend campus. She tells KBND News around 200 people are already signed up, "I think there’s just a huge interest in our growing campus, for a variety of reasons."
Coffin says it’s been fascinating to watch the transformation of a landfill full of construction materials and a former pumice mine, "It’s like a choreographed dance scene. There are about 24 heavy equipment vehicles going around the site. Both, digging up the landfill, sorting and separating what was found in the landfill, and then moving it towards the pumice mine, where it will serve as the base of recreation fields and other buildings." Coffin adds, "And even the hundreds and hundreds of tires that were found in the landfill are being shredded on site into tiny pieces, and those will be used - mixed with other materials - as the foundation for the recreation fields." She says crews reached the bottom of the landfill this week.
She acknowledges the campus is in a perpetual state of expansion, "And, OSU-Cascades will be under development for many years to come. And it will feel like hopscotch because, as we are building one building and remediating land in association with it, we are seeking funding for the next building."
Tuesday, May 28, from 4 to 6 p.m., the school offers a closer look of the site and hard hat tours of the Student Success Center, "And, what’s fascinating about that building," says Coffin, "Is that it’s constructed out of mass timber. So, a completely renewable resource, just as sturdy as steel." That building is slated to open early next year.
Tours and the open house are free, but registration is requested. Closed-toe shoes are recommended. For accommodation requests, contact events@osucascades.edu.
Image: The future Student Success Center shown in an archictectural rendering.
