Opened in 1972, the Talley Student Center was built at a time when the University had about 14,000 students. NCSU currently has more than 30,000 students enrolled. The Student Center is home to Stewart Theatre, a dining hall and meeting rooms for multiple student organizations and it will soon house the Central Campus Bookstore when complete.
The new 300,000-plus-square-foot, five-story building will draw upon the context of the surrounding architecture, scale, materials and landscape to enhance neighborhood unity, especially the historic Reynolds Coliseum and the exterior space between the two buildings. A new pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks will connect to the fourth floor of the Talley Student Center, creating an accessible link between the north and central campuses.
The existing building consists of composite steel and cast-in-place concrete floors. The new building structure components consist of composite steel framing, lateral moment frames and auger-cast concrete pile foundations. In addition, the new design incorporates long-span roofs, a 300-foot-long pedestrian bridge, as well as a 115-foot-tall structural tower that will draw visitors from multiple vantage points, given the name “Technology Tower.”
