December 17, 2020

WWU seeks GC/CM for $68M tech building

Images from WWU planning document [enlarge]

The new wing connects on all levels to the existing Communications Facility building, on the left.

Western Washington University's fastest growing programs are in its Computer Science and Electrical & Computer Engineering departments, which are at capacity, according to the school.

To fix this problem, WWU is planning the $68 million Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Building on its main Bellingham campus off East College Way and adjacent to the Communications Facility building. The new building will be a 40,000-square-foot wing connecting to the Communications Facility and the project includes renovating 20,000 square feet of space within the Communications Facility. Computer Science will take about half of the new space and Electrical & Computer Engineering will take about a third. The remaining space will be for collaboration, conferences and events, and the Institute for Energy Studies.

The new building will be four floors with a mechanical basement. It will integrate with the Communications Facility building at all floors through a direct bridge. Inside, functions will be stacked by floor: public space on the ground level, teaching on two, research on three, and offices and research on four. There also will be breakout spaces, a multicultural student lounge and a commons area.

The first and fourth floors of the Communications Facility will be renovated, as will its atrium. Existing Computer Science spaces in that building will connect with like spaces in the new wing.

The school wants to use mass timber for the project to help it reach LEED gold and net zero standards.

[enlarge]

The wing will have functions stacked by floor.

Early design work is underway and the school is seeking a general contractor/construction manager for the project, which has a proposed maximum allowable construction cost of $46.1 million. GC/CMs have until Jan. 15 to submit their proposals and the university is holding a Zoom meeting on Tuesday with more information for bidders. There also will be contractor/manager type contracts for the project's mechanical and electrical work.

Construction is scheduled to start in August 2022 and finish in February 2024.

The new building has been named Kaiser Borsari Hall after Fred Kaiser and Grace Borsari of Alpha Technologies, who donated $10 million to the project's $20 million fundraising campaign. The university is seeking $46 million from the state, which could be approved this week by Gov. Jay Inslee as part of the state's budget.

Here's the team: Perkins & Will, architect of record; McLennan Design, consulting architect; Berger Partnership, landscape architect; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, structural engineer; KPFF Consulting Engineers, civil engineer; Affiliated Engineers, mechanical and plumbing design; Hargis, electrical and IT/telecommunications design; Greenbusch Group, acoustic and elevator consultant; Morrison Hershfield, building envelope consultant; Blanca Lighting, lighting consultant; Larry Steele & Associates, land surveyor; Associated Earth Sciences, geotechnical engineer; and Roen Associates, cost estimator.

The project is expected to free up space in the Ross Engineering Technology building for growth in WWU's Industrial Design, Materials Sciences and Manufacturing Engineering programs.