Carlton Student Union Building Renovation and Addition

Stetson University's Carlton Union Building (CUB) is poised to play a greater role in the experience of students, faculty, and staff, providing new opportunities for interaction and engagement that will invigorate the campus community and enhance the academic and social environment. Traditionally home to dining and a number of isolated student service departments, the redesigned and expanded CUB hosts social, administrative, and student organization and activities spaces, links previously disparate north and south wings, and opens to a new exterior dining terrace and quad.

The dining pavilion is a late-night coffee house, faculty lounge, C-Store, and post office and copy center. On the upper level, the renovated “Stetson Room” is enhanced by a new circulation balcony overlooking the dining floor below, and providing students a perch from which to “see and be seen.” Stetson Radio broadcasts live from the CUB from a new studio, and student organizations share open office suites around common collaboration spaces and a flexible multipurpose room for receptions, conferences, and presentations. 

The historic building's arcade, columns, and porches are enhanced with lush, tropical landscape sequences that connect the CUB to the campus core. Incorporating innovative and flexible furnishings, technology and amenities, the new CUB is one of the most sophisticated student centers in the country, and one of the most sustainable: a true centerpiece for campus life and student energy.

The Carlton Union Building has been transformed from a building with little natural light and sightlines to a building with a two-story dining commons, abundant natural light, internal balconies and overlooks and beautiful design features.  

Albert T. Allen, AVP of Facilities Management, Stetson University