Top 25 of 2001 -- Seattle DJC.COM

#4. William H. Gates Hall School of Law

Project cost: $74 million

UW's new law school includes four floors of classrooms mixed with faculty offices and public spaces.
Rendering courtesy of Kohn Pedersen Fox/Mahlum Architects

Project address:
4300 15th Ave. N.W., Seattle

Start of construction:Sept. 3, 2001

Expected completion date:
May 5, 2003

Owner:
University of Washington

Description The University of Washington’s new law school will be a prominent addition to the main campus. The building's design abstracts the pointed, angular and vertically striated forms of the gothic style that is found throughout the campus. Due to the Law School’s location away from other buildings and plazas, the designers placed great importance on the southeast quadrangle, which will act as an outdoor focal point.

The facility will house faculty and student offices, lecture halls, classrooms, courtrooms and a law library. Two below-grade levels will include the library and offices. Above grade will be four levels of classrooms, faculty offices and public spaces. Three soaring architectural skylights in the southwest plaza will provide daylight to the library, which will also include modern features such as data ports and power at every seat.

Construction challenges include integration of a structural steel framing system and cast-in-place shearwalls and core walls, and a complicated exterior masonry wall system.

Textured brick will adorn much of the exterior, which will also include glazed aluminum curtain wall, tall vertical bay windows, metal siding and metal roofing.

The building is designed to 100-year standards, meaning the overall quality will be high and subject to exacting standards.

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

GC/CM contractor:
Lease Crutcher Lewis, 107 Spring St., Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98104-1052, (206) 622-0500

Design architect:
Kohn Pedersen Fox, 111 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019, (212) 956-2526

Executive architect:
Mahlum Architects, 71 Columbia St., Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98104, (206) 441-4151

Other Participants
Bush, Roed & Hitchings Inc.	City Transfer Inc.	Cochran Inc.
Fairweather Masonry	Garner Construction WBE Inc.	J.J. Henri Co. Inc.
Mayes Testing Engineers Inc.	Mobile Crane Co. Inc.	Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire Inc.
Sparling	The Erection Co.	Walters & Wolf Curtain Wall LLC