Imagine walking into an airy, open atrium in the HUB, where sunlight would stream in from skylights and you could easily navigate the hallways. This vision may soon become a reality, as the planning and design for the HUB Renovation and Expansion Project comes closer to being finalized.

The HUB Master Plan Steering Committee, a group comprised of 16 students, two faculty and two staff members, has tentatively selected Scheme C, which would build a 99,441 square-foot addition estimated at a cost of $188 million. This is the most extensive and expensive of the three plans proposed by architectural firm Perkins+Will.

Some of the proposed improvements include improving the location and visibility of ASUW offices, increasing natural lighting, adding a new food court, kitchen and dining areas, and improving the connection to HUB lawn.

The project has been mainly student-driven.

“It is the hub of campus,” said Sam E Al-Khoury, ASUW vice president and member of the Steering Committee. “But you wouldn’t know it’s a student building from looking at it — student clubs are not only underground, but in the sub-basement. Students at UW deserve better.”

This scheme also aims for 60 percent energy reduction, 50 percent waste reduction and plans to use 15 percent of energy from renewable sources.

The building’s new look will have what ASUW senator and Steering Committee member Sabrina Fields calls the “Suzzallo effect,” meaning people will be excited and interested to explore the building.

The next step is to propose the plan to the Services and Activities Fee (SAF) committee and request a budget for the pre-design and schematic design, said Paul Zuchowski, associate director of Student Activities and Union Facilities.

The ideal timeline for this project is to begin construction in the spring of 2010, with an estimated date of completion in 2012, he said.

For the majority of students on campus right now, the HUB transformation will not be complete before they graduate. However, increased fees and tuition funding the project will not be collected from students until at least a quarter before construction actually begins, Zuchowski said.

The renovation is not only a response to student demand but will be a needed technical and structural update.

The building as it now stands was built in three parts: The original was constructed in 1949, and additions were built in 1952 and 1975.

Some of the major changes include a much-needed seismic upgrade and new bathrooms that are up to code.

“Just to fix and upgrade everything in the building would cost $50 [million] to $70 million,” Zuchowski said. “There was some discussion of just tearing the building down and starting over, but then a large group of people would be displaced.”

Those involved in the project have stressed that the proposed scheme creates not only a physical space, but also a new social space.

The wealth of activities available in the HUB is not clearly visible now, but the new building will help to bring people together, Fields said.

“A building is only a building,” Al-Khoury said. “It’s what happens in it that helps create community.”

[Reach reporter Sonia McBride at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]