Two new academic buildings and plaza for Muskie School of Public Service and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (LEED Gold). Expansion of Osher Map Library (LEED Silver).

Weidlinger Associates was the structural engineer for USM's Wishcamper Center, a complex of academic buildings sited along the I-295 side of the campus in Portland. The Center houses the new national headquarters of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which offers programming for citizens ages 55 and older; consolidated facilities for the Muskie School of Public Service; and expansions of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. Wishcamper Center earned a LEED Gold rating; the Osher Map Library earned LEED Silver. Each building has its own identity but services are shared. A community plaza and other landscaped, public open spaces unite the various components.

The Osher Map Library houses 20,000 maps and more than 1,500 rare books and atlases. Special attention was paid to the operating systems so that they were sufficient for the temperature and humidity requirements of rare documents. Many regional and sustainable materials were used to reduce carbon footprint, and 80% of construction waste was diverted from landfills. The Albert Brenner Glickman Family Library, contiguous to the complex at Forest Avenue and Bedford Street, received a new entrance facing west toward the campus.

Completion Date: 2007
Location: Portland, Maine
Owner or Client: University of Southern Maine
Prime Consultant(s): Koetter Kim & Associates