When gazing at Balmer Hall, the location of the Michael G. Foster School of Business, the phrase "state-of-the-art" doesn't come to mind.

By 2010 this will change, as plans are underway to build a newer set of buildings for the business school.

"We looked at our facilities, and frankly they were out of date with regard to how management education is taught today," said Roland Dukes, professor of accounting and chairman of the building committee.

At least two new buildings will be erected, one replacing Balmer Hall and an additional building with an atrium. A combination of classrooms, office buildings and large common areas, with a view of the Denny Green, will be built, similar to the complex at the Paul G. Allen Computer Science and Engineering building.

"Last year we knew we had to do it," said Dukes, who has been in the process of trying to start up the project since 2002. "Finally the University said, 'Let's get this on a regular schedule; let's make this happen.'"

The renovation is "completely mandatory," said Morghan Laswell, a business school senior and president of the Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Club.

"The classrooms are just atrocious. There's no consistency from one to the other," Laswell said. "The seating is very, very poor. It's definitely due to be upgraded."

The total available space of Balmer Hall will increase by 35 percent, and the classrooms will increase by 50 percent.

Many of the classrooms only have one or two outlets for laptops, Laswell said, which is a sign of "how antiquated the building is, taking into account how students function today."

Other faculty members agree.

"Our existing building was built in 1960, and it looks like it and feels like it," said David Burgstahler, a business school professor and member of the building board.

The $95 million project, which will encompass 130,000 square feet, is in its first phase, where all of the financial support for the buildings will come from private funding, including alumni donations and corporate gifts. The second phase will involve funding from state and University dollars.

The Foster Foundation of Seattle donated $36.5 million to the business school, bringing their total contributions to $50 million and resulting in the renaming of the school to the Michael G. Foster School of Business, in the hopes of increasing the school's national prestige.

The new facilities are in line with the school's goal of becoming one of the top five business schools in the country, Dukes said. It is currently ranked in eighth place by Business Week.

"The first and obvious [goal] is that it will improve management education and make us state-of-the-art, but the second [goal] will be reputation," Dukes said.

Dukes hopes that the new building will attract incoming faculty and students.

"We want people to look at the building and think 'We are with it. We have facilities that will help you,'" Dukes said.

[Reach reporter Arla Shephard at news@thedaily.washington.edu]