ANN ARBOR, MI - Although an $85 million renovation of the Michigan Union is still about 11 months away, the picture is a little clearer of how the new "front door" to the University of Michigan campus will look.

That's how Susan Pile, senior director of University Unions and Auxiliary Services, described the union, which has been a hub of student activity and a go-to spot for alumni on the Ann Arbor campus for nearly 100 years.

From forming the Building a Better Michigan student advisory group in 2011 to update the Union and recreation facilities, to passing a $65 Student Life Fee for Facility Renewal in 2013, Pile said students recognized the need to update the Michigan Union and were integral in the final design concept.

With their input, Pile said, the union is expected to be a more vibrant center for student activity in a design that encourages students to meet and collaborate from the second they walk through the door.

"As the front door of the campus, we asked, 'How do we make it more vibrant?'" Pile said. "This is the place where students start with admissions and eventually take graduation photos, while alumni return there for football games. It's important that we are still able to meet that arc of needs.

"What we heard from students was that having student organization spaces on the fourth floor in private offices that accommodate 80 to 90 of the 1,400 student organizations we have wasn't going to work," she added.

Architectural design concepts displayed recently by the university on a new website give a better idea of renovation plans.

From the lounge and study spaces that have nearly doubled in size in the first floor's Willis Ward lounge, which features a large fireplace, to the second-floor idea hub, Pile said students and student organizations will have more space to collaborate.

The project also includes plans to enclose the courtyard for year-round use. The design calls for a new glass-and-steel roof structure over the courtyard. The appearance of the roof will incorporate arches and curves found in the original 1919 Michigan Union building.

"The hope is that any student organization can use this space, where they'll have access to reserve rooms, practice space and meetings," Pile said. "It's designed for people who are highly involved on campus to do their work, but those who are not yet involved can come in, find out what's going on and get connected."

One noted feature of the Union's current design that won't be a part of the renovation is the billiards room on the second floor, which has seen a significant decline in use in recent years, Pile said, with 3-4 students using the large space per hour on average.

Relocating the tables to another part of the Union and moving the billiards room to the Michigan League were considered, Pile said, but ultimately it was determined that the space should be used as a gathering space for students with more modern accommodations.

"We're preserving the wood paneling in there and honoring the tradition of the room, but in a way that meets today's student needs," she said. "That was the place where you gathered as students, but over the years that's declined and they do that in other ways now. We want to restore it while making it a space for students."

The renovation is expected to be completed in the winter of 2020.