December 16, 2015

Center for Wooden Boats will have more youth programs

Image by Stephanie Bower [enlarge]

Schuchart Construction is slated to break ground on Jan. 19 on the Center for Wooden Boats' $6.6 million Dick and Colleen Wagner Education Center.

The 9,200-square-foot education center is intended to expand the services for youth.

The site is at the center's existing home at 1010 Valley St. in South Lake Union.

Olson Kundig is the architect.

“Olson Kundig has designed a straightforward two-story, wood-clad, steel-frame building that fits the history and needs of CWB and reflects the boatbuilding traditions of the Northwest,” said Jim Duncan, co-chair of the CWB Capital Campaign Committee, in a statement.

The center said the new building will allow space for new after-school programs, more job skills crew members, and more drop-in programs where young people can learn traditional maritime skills.

The building will also serve as the center of CWB's annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival.

CWB's current boat shop will continue to house regular maintenance of the CWB program fleet, while the new building's boat shop will allow the organization's professional boatwrights and volunteers to undertake more complex projects.

Other project team members include KPFF Consulting Engineers, structural and civil engineer; Sparling, electrical engineer; WSP/Parsons Brinkerhoff, mechanical engineer; Wood Harbinger, LEED commissioning; SME, electrical contractor; PSF Mechanical, mechanical contractor; SoundEarth Strategies, environmental engineer; Adapt Engineering, geotechnical engineer; and David Bolin, the owner's representative.

CWB is working to fund the project's second phase, which will include completing all the interior spaces and installing a roof-mounted solar power system.