Western Oregon University Student Success Center

Gensler partnered with Western Oregon University (WOU) to design a new Student Success Center, which plays a key role in addressing WOU’s strategic goal of improving student services with an emphasis on students from underserved populations.

The design team took a comprehensive approach, focusing on inclusive design to address the needs of diverse groups, including those with disabilities such as blindness and low vision, mobility challenges, deafness, trauma, and neurodiversity. During the programming and design efforts with stakeholders and students, the team developed guiding principles to serve as a benchmark for effective decision making.

Centrally located, the Student Success Center will consolidate five essential support services on campus. The new proposed Student Success Building connects the larger program suites with a centralized two-story student hub with accessible building entries. Each programmatic suite fronts the student hub with a series of unique “front porch” entries characterized to support each mission. The visual connection of all spaces allows for easy navigation and intuitive wayfinding with unique auditory, visual, and tactile signifiers.

Gensler will assess the impact of these design decisions through a post-occupancy evaluation (POE), conducted in partnership with WOU, to identify areas where inclusivity measures have made the most significant difference. By gathering feedback from users, WOU can continuously improve and refine the environment to better serve diverse student populations.