UT Arboretum begins construction on auditorium

 

Construction work has started on the auditorium at the University of Tennessee Arboretum in Oak Ridge.

The auditorium will complement the existing outdoor pavilion, but it will be a stand-alone facility capable of accommodating gatherings of up to 120 people, said Kevin Hoyt, director of the UT Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center and UT Arboretum.

Hoyt described the facility, which will be more than 2,400 square feet, as a good fit for the Arboretum’s environment. It will have large windows that overlook the Arboretum’s hardwood forest, and the design includes a unique two-sided stone fireplace that can add ambiance to events that spill over from the indoor space to a large outside patio, a press release said.

“We’re really excited about the design,” Hoyt said. “Aesthetically, it’s an indoor space with outdoor ambitions.”

Of particular interest to many Arboretum visitors will be the addition of restroom facilities. Previously no public restrooms have been available on the Arboretum grounds.

Paid for with a combination of private donations and existing university facility funds, the auditorium is expected to be completed by June 2015. Construction begins as the Forest Resources Center and Arboretum celebrate 50 years of service to Tennessee forest landowners, the forest industry, and the community at large.

The press release said visitors to the University of Tennessee Arboretum in the coming weeks and months—including those planning to stop by for the Saturday, October 11, plant sale or the October 15 Woods and Wildlife Field Day—may catch a glimpse of something more than trees.

“Construction supplies, equipment, and heavy machinery are in evidence as the facility begins construction on its long anticipated auditorium,” the release said.

Hoyt recently thanked the members of the UT Arboretum Society for their support of the facility. In a letter published in their newsletter last summer, he wrote of the lasting legacy the building will provide the community, noting that the auditorium will help the research and education center “launch innovative education programs” among its many functions.

Although the construction phase may prove a bit noisy and messy, Hoyt assured the public that the serenity of the Arboretum will be restored as soon as possible.

The Forest Resources Center includes some 11,500 acres of forested lands in Oak Ridge, Morgan, and Scott counties, and Tullahoma. The Arboretum, which is open to the public for recreation and educational activities, comprises 250 of those acres. For more information about the research activities or the Arboretum and its plant collections and hiking trails, visit the center’s website at forestry.tennessee.edu.

In addition to its 10 AgResearch centers throughout the state, the UT Institute of Agriculture provides teaching, research, and outreach through the colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and Veterinary Medicine and UT Extension with offices in every Tennessee county.