State of the Union

State of the Union

10 years in the making, the University of Tennessee’s new Student Union building is big, bright and very orange.

by jesse fox mayshark • january 8, 2018

Hallways inside the new student union building on the ut knoxville campus.

There is nothing modest about the new Student Union building on the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus.
The building's budget grew to more than $180 million during 10 years of plans and construction.
Not its block-long facade, which runs along Cumberland Avenue between Volunteer Boulevard and Phillip Fulmer Way. Not its interior space, which at 396,088 square feet makes it what UT calls the largest building project in the university’s history. Not its price tag, which increased over the years from an initial estimate of $116.6 million to just over $180 million. Nor its st...