CHAMPAIGN — An architectural firm with a global reach is being recommended to design the renovation of the University of Illinois Assembly Hall.

A UI Board of Trustees' committee will review a proposed contract Monday with AECOM, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles that has projects in 125 countries, according to its website.

UI officials refused to divulge the size of the contract before Monday's meeting of the Audit, Budget, Finance and Facilities Committee.

"We can't give out that information until it's reviewed by at least a subcommittee of the board," said Andy Blacker, a spokesman for UI Facilities and Services.

The full board is scheduled to vote on the contract at its Dec. 2 meeting in Springfield.

More than a dozen design firms responded to the university's original request for proposals last spring, according to Associate Athletic Director Dana Brenner. The UI whittled that list down to four companies that drew up a preliminary design after touring the Assembly Hall. Planners settled on AECOM in mid-August, he said.

AECOM will be asked to come up with a schematic design that can be used for fundraising efforts, as the project will be privately funded, officials said.

Athletic Director Mike Thomas said this week that he hoped to have a design concept for potential donors by the spring.

The design must incorporate the needs of the 49-year-old Assembly Hall and the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, such as working around the UI basketball schedule, Brenner said.

Once 80 percent of the funding is in place, the athletic department will ask the university for permission to move ahead with the project, he said. The same financing model was used for the renovation of Memorial Stadium.

Chief on the wish list is air-conditioning so the Assembly Hall can be used year-round for concerts, shows and other events, Brenner said.

"Right now the building is basically shut down at the beginning of June and pretty dark until late September, just because of the heat," he said.

Other priorities include improving the basketball environment and amenities for fans and season ticket holders, although he said specific decisions about special boxes or club seating remain to be ironed out.

"Beyond that, price is obviously rather important to us," he added.

Brenner declined to put a dollar estimate on the total cost of the project.

Some areas will have to be enlarged to create enough space, but it's not clear if that will involve an exterior addition to the building, Brenner said.

"That will all be part of the design phase," he said.

Additions have been considered in the past, before the Ubben basketball practice facility was completed in 1998, he said. The men's and women's basketball teams both used to practice at the Assembly Hall and would be bumped to other campus gyms whenever an entertainment event pre-empted practice time, he said.

The late Max Abramovitz, architect of the Assembly Hall, worked with planners considering the addition of an auxiliary gym at the time, Brenner said. Abramovitz wasn't opposed to the idea "if it was done right and protected the integrity of the design," he said, but officials concluded it would have to be built underground so the campus opted for a separate practice facility.

"It's a great building," Brenner said. "It's certainly an icon for our campus and community, and it offers a lot of entertainment opportunities as well as educational opportunities for our county."