page_title: University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus)
section_title: Campus
hierarchical_section_title: University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus) / Campus
caption_attribution_description: English: University Centre (UBC Okanagan)
context_page_description: The University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus is a campus of the University of British Columbia, located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to over 10,755 undergraduate and graduate students. The 209-hectare campus is the research and innovation hub in the southern interior of the province, in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. UBCO has 62 undergraduate programs and 19 graduate programs. The University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus also resides on the traditional unceded Syilx territory.
context_section_description: By 2011, UBC's Okanagan campus had undergone what became a rapid CA$450 million expansion.
  The University Centre was completed in 2009. The 75,000 sq. ft. facility features several UBC Okanagan departments, UBC Students' Union Okanagan offices, meeting rooms, student club space, cafeteria and restaurants, cinema, multi-faith space, a medical clinic, learning centers, and Collegia.
  The $31.5 million Charles E. Fipke Centre for Innovative Research is a multi-purpose academic and research facility. It provided 6,500 square metres (70,000 sq ft) of space for teaching and research, including research labs, classrooms and teaching labs, offices, student commons, lecture theatre, and an animal care facility. The building also achieved Five Green Globes and LEED Platinum standards for sustainability using geo-exchange technology.
  The Arts and Sciences II Building and Engineering and Management Building were completed in 2011 as well. The most recently completed building is the medical school building which was completed by end of the year 2011. The second Arts and Science building includes a new live animal testing facility. In addition, there are various student residences in various stages of construction.
  The expansion of UBC Faculty of Medicine created a new distributed medical site, the Southern Medical Program at UBC Okanagan, in a purpose-designed building named for benefactors Klaus and Lydia Reichwald. Part of the program is located in a new building adjacent to the Kelowna General Hospital. The Southern Medical Program opened 32 seats for its first cohort of medical students at UBC Okanagan on August 29, 2011.
  In 2012, the Health Science Centre was opened, providing 47,000 sq. ft. of academic and research space for high-tech classrooms, research and teaching laboratories, problem-based learning rooms and faculty and administrative offices.
  Along with the physical expansion of the campus, the campus' Collegia program has gained national attention as a home-away-from-home for its large commuter population.
  According to the UBC Okanagan Campus Plan in Sept. 2015, the next 20 years will see drastic expansion in research, teaching, student residence, and commercial spaces. A proposed 85,292-square-metre (918,080 sq ft) increase in academic space would more than double the current capacity. Student residence is proposed to increase by  approximately 2,200 beds to a total of approximately 3,900 beds. Commercial space would increase from 2,411 square metres (25,950 sq ft) to 4,561 square metres (49,090 sq ft). The additional space will remain within the main Okanagan campus, rather than expanding into the West Campus. Sustainability upgrades to 11 of the existing buildings are also underway. 
  A new, $40-million Commons Building opened in late 2018. This is adjacent to a redesigned main thoroughfare, University Way, making it a pedestrian only area that is expected to facilitate greater student interactions and festivals. The recent opening of an alternate route onto campus from the west, John Hindle Way, has significantly altered traffic patterns over much of the campus.
  Current projects include a significant new administrative building adjacent to the UNC Building, additional residences, an engineering design building, a retrofit of a nearby commercial building billed as an innovation precinct, and various other, more minor projects.
caption: University Centre
exif: {"Image Software": "Google"}