Hugh Muldoon said the Interfaith Center is looking for a solution – but Interim Chancellor John Dunn said they might be looking in the wrong place.

The University Christian Ministries Interfaith Center is working on a proposal to replace the current bungalow style center with a five-story self-efficient living center despite alleged kinks in its plan.

Muldoon, the administrative coordinator for UCM at SIUC, said the building is still in the earliest planning stages and is not a certainty.

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Dunn said the university has interest-based residential areas and could create one based on faith, but wasn’t sure the center’s location was the best choice.

He said the center’s location – bordered on two sides by a large intersection and another by a set of railroad tracks – made it difficult to provide for a parking lot and entrance.

Muldoon said the center had examined the issue of parking but would discourage the use of cars. He said residents could park at the nearby Newman Catholic Center or in university lots, but the center would have several spaces for handicapped residents and center staff. He said the committee discussed the possibility of giving each resident a bicycle or providing smart cars for them to share.

He said the issue will still have to be discussed, but the committee felt the current location was most convenient for students who visit the university. Leah DePriest, a senior from Findlay, Ohio studying architecture is one of several students involved in the discussions for the center.

DePriest started work on the project as part of an architecture class, and attends the meetings discussing the proposal.

“It’s something that Carbondale has not seen,” DePriest said. “Something new and fresh and innovative. I think it’ll be very good for the community, the school and everybody involved.”

Muldoon said the center would contain the offices for the Ministries as well as a residence hall. Rent would provide for building loans, utilities, and the activities of the center itself, making the center fully self-sustainable.

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“It’s all one facility because we need a place on campus where we can do our interfaith programming and run our campus ministry out of a contemporary building that suits our work and the size of this university,” Muldoon said.

He said the building would be designed as low energy as possible to help with expenses and be as environmentally friendly as possible.

It would be located on the corner of S. Illinois Ave. and Wall Ave. – where the center already stands. The center leases the land from the university and a small portion from the city, Muldoon said.

Sarah Lohman can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 254 or [email protected].