Kansas University students attend a class Friday, Oct. 17, inside the recently completed Forum, an auditorium designed and constructed by the Studio 804 architecture class, at Marvin Hall. Exterior walls are made of glass with a naturally ventilated facade using cedar louvers. The addition's new roof is supported by timber-frame trusses, as is used in the original building. At the back of the room is a green wall of live plants.

After years of architecture lecture classes all across campus, Stephen McEnery was happy to sit in an inspiring space Friday, when the Forum at Marvin Hall hosted its first lecture.

“We’ve had lectures in other, dungeon-like spaces,” said McEnery, an architecture student. “It’s exciting to be in a lecture somewhere that reminds me why I’m studying architecture.”

The Forum, an addition to Marvin Hall, was designed and constructed by KU’s 2013-2014 Studio 804 class, with help from this year’s class on finishing touches. Previously Marvin Hall — home to the school of Architecture, Design and Planning — did not have an auditorium.

Lecture classes took place everywhere from the Spencer Museum of Art auditorium to Malott Hall, school spokesman Charles Linn said. Most of them will relocate to the Forum.

The bright, airy space features glass walls, honey-colored wood, high ceilings, 121 folding seats, a green wall covered in living ferns and innovative design to minimize energy use.

Recognizing a need for an auditorium and student common space, John Gaunt, dean of architecture, first began envisioning such a project 10 years ago, according to KU. He wanted Studio 804 students to build it, and the ambitious idea finally came together.

“This building was by far the most complex that we have ever done,” architecture professor Dan Rockhill, who has led Studio 804 for 20 years, said in a news release. “And the effort the students put into the project was awe-inspiring.”

Linn said the 2013-2014 class had 18 students who worked through graduation and nine of them came back to work throughout the summer. Licensed contractors stepped in for tasks as required, but the students truly built the building themselves, Linn said.

Studio 804 is a not-for-profit corporation and a design/build class, and construction of the Forum was privately funded. Linn said that if built traditionally — without students’ labor and donations of some services and materials — such a building would have cost around $4 million to $5 million.

Architecture student Claire Ryan also was seated in the Forum for Friday’s lecture. She said having an auditorium in Marvin Hall would help strengthen the sense of community in the school.

“I love the space,” she said. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”