March 20, 2014

Science building allows for growth at UW Bothell

Photo courtesy of University of Washington Bothell [enlarge]

University of Washington Bothell will hold a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. today to dedicate Discovery Hall, the university's new $68 million science and academic building.

Gov. Jay Inslee will take part in the event.

The 75,000-square-foot building (shown at right) will house the university's School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and serve an additional 1,000 students. Current enrollment is 4,600 students.

Discovery Hall will have 14 science labs, 430 classroom seats, 250 laboratory seats and a 200-seat lecture hall. The building will also house a metal shop, wood shop, cold room, project support spaces and faculty offices and conference rooms. A “collaboratory” space will offer students a large informal area for work and group study.

Energy-efficient features include use of recycled materials, gearless traction elevators, passive chilled beams, displacement ventilation, low-flow plumbing fixtures and water-efficient landscaping.

It's the first new academic building to be constructed on the UW Bothell campus in 10 years. It will open for classes in the fall.

A new plaza was also constructed.

THA Architecture of Portland designed the project.

Lease Crutcher Lewis is the general contractor/construction manager. The construct cost is $62.85 million. Building-information modeling techniques were used to save more than $2 million.

Other project team members are Otak, civil and planning; PCS Structural Solutions; Glumac, mechanical and electrical; and Walker Macy, landscape architect.