The University of Washington Biology department educates more STEM students than any other program in the state, and now it has a new centerpiece in the Perkins+Will-designed Life Science Building (LSB). The 207,000-sf facility features a separate 20,000-sf research and teaching greenhouse with 2,400 species of plants, and will eventually include a direct connection to the LSB.
LSB was designed for team-focused collaboration with offices, laboratories, and common-use spaces in close proximity to each other. The research and teaching areas are open, modular, and flexible to adapt to emerging research questions that require new methods and instruments. A suspended staircase with oversized landing areas further encourages collaboration while a courtyard and rooftop deck provide outdoors space for students and staff. Perhaps LSB’s most unique element is its elevator core that is wrapped in custom-milled slabs from 200-foot Douglas fir trees.
See Also: Suffolk breaks ground on large housing/dining complex for UMass Dartmouth
LSB is tracking to LEED Gold and features sustainability elements such as vertical glass solar fins on its exterior, operable windows for natural ventilation, chilled beams and waves, a water reclamation system for greenhouse irrigation, radiant floors, and rooftop solar panels. The vertical solar glass fins alone are anticipated to generate enough electricity to light more than 12,400 sf of offices throughout the year.
In addition to Perkins+Will, the build team included: Coughlin Porter Lundeen (SE and CE), Affiliated Engineers (mechanical and electrical engineering), Skanska USA (general contractor), McKinstry (mechanical contractor), VECA Electric (electrical contractor), and Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (landscape architect).
Related Stories
| Oct 13, 2010
Science building supports enrollment increases
The new Kluge-Moses Science Building at Piedmont Virginia Community College, in Charlottesville, is part of a campus update designed and managed by the Lukmire Partnership. The 34,000-sf building is designed to be both a focal point of the college and a recruitment mechanism to get more students enrolling in healthcare programs.
| Oct 13, 2010
Residences bring students, faculty together in the Middle East
A new residence complex is in design for United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, UAE, near Abu Dhabi. Plans for the 120-acre mixed-use development include 710 clustered townhomes and apartments for students and faculty and common areas for community activities.
| Oct 13, 2010
New health center to focus on education and awareness
Construction is getting pumped up at the new Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado, Denver. The four-story, 94,000-sf building will focus on healthy lifestyles and disease prevention.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community college plans new campus building
Construction is moving along on Hudson County Community College’s North Hudson Campus Center in Union City, N.J. The seven-story, 92,000-sf building will be the first higher education facility in the city.
| Oct 12, 2010
University of Toledo, Memorial Field House
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Memorial Field House, once the lovely Collegiate Gothic (ca. 1933) centerpiece (along with neighboring University Hall) of the University of Toledo campus, took its share of abuse after a new athletic arena made it redundant, in 1976. The ultimate insult occurred when the ROTC used it as a paintball venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
Owen Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Officials at Michigan State University’s East Lansing Campus were concerned that Owen Hall, a mid-20th-century residence facility, was no longer attracting much interest from its target audience, graduate and international students.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cell and Genome Sciences Building, Farmington, Conn.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Administrators at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington didn’t think much of the 1970s building they planned to turn into the school’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. It’s not that the former toxicology research facility was in such terrible shape, but the 117,800-sf structure had almost no windows and its interior was dark and chopped up.
| Oct 12, 2010
Full Steam Ahead for Sustainable Power Plant
An innovative restoration turns a historic but inoperable coal-burning steam plant into a modern, energy-efficient marvel at Duke University.
| Sep 16, 2010
Green recreation/wellness center targets physical, environmental health
The 151,000-sf recreation and wellness center at California State University’s Sacramento campus, called the WELL (for “wellness, education, leisure, lifestyle”), has a fitness center, café, indoor track, gymnasium, racquetball courts, educational and counseling space, the largest rock climbing wall in the CSU system.
| Sep 13, 2010
Community college police, parking structure targets LEED Platinum
The San Diego Community College District's $1.555 billion construction program continues with groundbreaking for a 6,000-sf police substation and an 828-space, four-story parking structure at San Diego Miramar College.
