Student Union (University of North Florida)

University of North Florida Student Union
General information
Type	Student union
Location	Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Opening	2009
Technical details
Floor count	3
Website
http://www.unf.edu/studentunion

The Student Union is the student activity center at the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. The first such building in UNF's history, it opened in 2009. It is located on the university's campus across from UNF Arena. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter ranked UNF's Student Union fourth on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.^[1]

History

Opened in 2009, the Student Union is the first in the university's history. It succeeds the Robinson Student Life Center as the main recreational facility on campus, but the Robinson Center only included a fraction of the amenities of the current Student Union. Plans for a Student Union go back as far as the 1980s,^[2] but the project was finalized in 2007.^[3] The Student Union is a central part of UNF's 2006 announcement to spend $170 million on new structures on campus including new housing, a College of Education building, and parking.^[4]

Details

Front of Student Union at night

• The official size of the structure is 150,048 square feet (13,939.9 m²).
• The facility cost $50.4 million.
• The Coxwell Amphitheater has a capacity of 6,000 people.
• First Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified student union in Florida.

Features

UNF's Student Union consists of two buildings connected by a covered walkway known as Osprey Plaza. The structure includes contains the UNF bookstore, a convenience store, restaurants, a game room, an auditorium, a ballroom, Community First bank branch, an LGBT Resource Center, and an amphitheater. UNF student government is housed there, as is the Center for Student Media, which includes UNF's student newspaper The Spinnaker, Osprey Television, and Osprey Radio. The Lufrano Intercultural Gallery of Art and other various student organizations like Greek Life have their offices in the facility.^[5] The Boathouse restaurant is the third variant of the UNF tradition. The food court has Quiznos, Salsarita's, Coyote Jack's, and Chick-N-Grill.^[6] Market Days are held each Wednesday from 10am-3pm in Osprey Plaza and features vendors from the region.^[7]

References

External links

• Osprey Plaza Paver Project
• Design Website
• Dining Information

University of North Florida Academics College of Arts and Sciences Coggin College of Business College of Computing, Engineering and Construction College of Education and Human Services Brooks College of Health Department of Music & Jazz program Athletics Atlantic Sun Conference North Florida Ospreys Basketball (Men's – Women's) Baseball UNF Arena Hodges Stadium Harmon Stadium Hayt Golf Learning Center Campus Thomas G. Carpenter Library Student Union Housing Fine Arts Center Coggin College of Business Administration Building J. Brooks Brown Hall Student life The Spinnaker Fiction Fix Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville People List of UNF people