Union South celebrated its first birthday Monday by unveiling a new project intended to encapsulate the timelessness of the building.

Mark Kennedy, spokesperson for Wisconsin Union, said a time capsule to be opened in 61 years is supposed to represent what happened in and around the Union South building over the course of the past year.

“We’re celebrating its first birthday, so we thought we’d give people around campus the chance to pitch in ideas for examples of something contemporary of what would represent the campus and building,” Kennedy said.

Union President Sarah Mathews said Union South has many kinds of significance, spanning from architecture to its location on campus.

She said the excitement and activity surrounding the opening of Union South last spring was something people wanted to encapsulate, and that they commemorate the process that went into creating the new building.

“I love the idea that it’s going to be open in 50 years and we can kind of have a snapshot of how far we’ve come,” Mathews said.

She said both Union South and Memorial Union represent spaces for students to experience the “wonderful social history” of each building. Additionally, she said Union South is a place for student groups, including those enrolled in the School of Engineering, who were previously underserved in that area of campus.

Funding and support for the new Union South came out of a student referendum in 2006, part of the Wisconsin Union Building Project, that raised mandatory student fees to contribute in part to the building of the new Union South and renovations of Memorial Union.

Kennedy said students were first surveyed in 2001 as to what aspects of Union South they liked and did not like. It was very clear from these surveys students did not feel the current building was welcoming.

“It was kind of a brutal style of architecture, not a lot of sunlight,” Kennedy said. “It was not an inviting building, that was really clear from the surveys, and from student forums and focus groups. That was very clear.”

According to Kennedy, an assessment of the building proved designing an entirely new building would not cost much more than attempting to retrofit the old building.

He also said the old Union South was not technologically equipped for many students’ needs, including Internet capabilities.

The new facility, Kennedy said, is very much what the students asked for in their feedback. He noted elements like the movie theatre, bowling alley and climbing wall, as well as green technologies and study space.

Mathews said she feels happy about how attracted students and community members have been to Union South and is glad to always see students in the building, making it vibrant and lively.

“It’s a fun celebration to thank the students for the way they’ve taken to the building,” Kennedy said. “The time capsule was a fun thing to do to get people involved with the anniversary.”