Design contest for new college launched

Jeffrey Libby

Friday, Jan. 5, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

In its first meeting Thursday, a 23-member architectural committee for the proposed Henderson State College hatched an international design contest with a $100,000 budget to reward four finalists.

The reward money was donated by the college's foundation, and will be split four ways among the finalists.

The committee wants a final design by April 4 so it can have a visual aid as it makes its pitch for funding to the Nevada Legislature.

Committee members hope the winning design will be comparable to such architectural wonders as the Sydney, Australia, opera house and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa, Spain.

Richard Moore, president of the proposed college, said, "The unstated ugliness of American colleges is that all colleges fight the cities they're in. We have a unique opportunity. LandWell (Corp.) and the city of Henderson are our two best partners."

LandWell has promised 280 acres for the campus on undeveloped land that is worth an estimated $35 million. Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson is an outspoken proponent of the college. But Moore still needs to win the support of legislators. The 2001 legislative session begins Feb. 5.

The Board of Regents has asked for $26 million in state funding for an academic building and another $17.5 million for a library. The college's foundation plans to kick in another $10 million for each of the buildings.

One thousand students are hoped to be enrolled by fall 2002 with another $3 million in state funding for operating expenses, even if, as Moore says, the students have to be housed "in tents."

But last week, citing a tight budget and other priorities, Gov. Kenny Guinn said that he had included no money for the college in his budget. He half-capitulated before week's end though, saying that he would keep his options open.

Even if the the governor is amenable to discussion, the committee acknowledged Thursday that the Legislature could prove the harder sell.

"There's no more brutal folks in the world," said County Commission Chairman Darrio Herrera, who is also a committee member. "If we don't have something concrete to show them, they'll swallow us up. They're going to want to see details."

Committee co-chair and Regent Howard Rosenberg said of the college, "What we're building is going to be a visual sculpture that's going to last a minimum 250 to 300 years. This is something special. It hasn't been done for a long, long time and I want us to do it right."

Richard Kellogg Jr., board chairman for Basic Management Inc., the father company of LandWell, and co-chair of the architecture committee, agreed.

Kellogg, who later said the prospect of helping establish the college had "captured the imagination of an otherwise cold-eyed group of business people," sees the design contest as an opportunity to build something new.

"That's what's exciting," Kellogg said. "It will be new. We have the prospect of putting architecture into Las Vegas, into the valley, that somehow reflects the excitement of the city."

It was up to Henderson consultant Robert Campbell to play the pragmatist.

"While we all might want to be a Guggenheim, we're a tax-supported state institution and our main priority is to produce teachers, nurses and business people," Campbell said. "Our main priority is to get through the political process, get funded and open."

The committee plans to advertise the competition with the Nevada branch of the American Institute of Architects by early next week. Individual invitations will also be sent to selected national and international architectural firms.

A criteria package, at this point requiring only that plans take into account a desert landscape, should be available by Jan. 15.

From there, firms will have about 10 weeks to draft a master-planned campus on the fan-shaped parcel, cupped at its southeast tip by Boulder Highway and Lake Mead Boulevard. At the northern edge of the acreage, LandWell plans to build a master-planned community of 8,000 homes around a town center of small businesses, shops and restaurants.

The deadline for submissions is March 30 at 5 p.m.

A hand-picked jury will take three days to review the submissions. The four semi-finalists chosen, each winners of $25,000, will present their plans to the architecture committee April 4.

The winning plan from that group will go to the full Board of Regents for approval April 19-20. The Legislature is expected to have its say by no later than May 1.