PULLMAN, Wash.—The new $66 million Plant Sciences Building at Washington State University in Pullman is now open. The latest addition to the V. Lane Rawlins Research and Education Complex, the state-of-the-art building was funded by the Washington State Legislature (WSU).

WSU is a preeminent agricultural research institution committed to fostering its land-grant heritage and tradition of service to society. The Plant Sciences Building integrates several disciplines from the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences (CAHNRS), and is central to fulfilling this mission.

The 82,437-square-foot building is a new center for interdisciplinary research and was designed and constructed by the design/build team of Skanska and LMN Architects. The project provides new infrastructure for the Institute of Biological Chemistry, as well as laboratories that integrate faculty and students in plant biochemistry, pathology, horticulture, and crop and soil sciences into a single facility.

The new five-story building supports Washington’s $51 billion food and agriculture industry by providing a modern research venue for faculty and students in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, WSU’s Molecular Plant Science Program, and portions of the Departments of Horticulture, Plant Pathology, and Crop and Soil Sciences.

“Because of the close collaboration between the architects at LMN and our college and university, we were able to design and build a truly modern facility for WSU plant research,” said CAHNRS Dean André-Denis Wright.

The project drew on participation from members of the state’s grain, tree fruit, wine, grape, potato, dairy, beef, and raspberry industries, as well as the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the Washington Farm Bureau.

The building is the fourth to be completed within the master plan for the Research and Education Complex (REC) at WSU, originally developed by LMN Architects in 2005.

“The new Plant Sciences Building marks a significant milestone in Washington State’s commitment to sustainable agriculture and ecological stewardship,” said LMN Partner Stephen Van Dyck, AIA.“As a central element of the Research and Education Complex, the new building provides state-of-the-art research facilities that are interconnected to the culture of research on the Washington State University campus. As a central node of the interdisciplinary complex, the building is designed to nurture collaborative innovation in this critical sector.”

The plan configuration of the building allows it to fulfill the master plan while accommodating an existing utility tunnel to the south—a formal adjustment to the master plan which lowered construction costs. At the western entry, the building’s cantilevered composition frames a new grand entry to the whole complex and features a two-floor cantilever facing west towards Martin Stadium.

The new facility will also be a social and interdisciplinary heart for the research complex. Designed for flexibility well into the future, the building hosts infrastructure for a variety of research needs beyond the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. A welcoming four-floor staircase encourages vertical circulation and provides important visual connections between floors.

The interior arrangement of laboratories is designed to support efficient and flexible research over time. The modular laboratories can be easily rearranged to respond to the changing needs of research throughout the building. To the north of the modular laboratories, offices for principal investigators are interspersed with open work areas for graduate researchers. To the south of the laboratories, a series of modular support spaces accommodate a variety of specialized research equipment within easy reach of the adjacent lab benches.

On the exterior, the building reimagines the red-brick campus. The high-performance precast concrete façade panel system is clad with a sculpted, red-brick veneer. The panels integrate structure, insulation, weather barrier, interior, and exterior finishes.

Said LMN Principal Jennifer Milliron, “We have approached the design and delivery process for this building as an effort in applied research. Our Progressive Design-Build team partnered with WSU early in the process and prioritized innovative design and construction methods. Our partnership with Skanska allowed our team to explore integrated design and construction opportunities that prioritized high-performance systems, opening opportunities for architectural expression while simultaneously maximizing construction efficiencies.”

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PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman recently had a new addition to its high-ranking buildings. In fall 2017, the SPARK — a classroom building created to democratize and revolutionize education at WSU — was completed.

The new building is a revolutionary teaching and learning space intended to enable faculty to use the most innovative technology in a state-of-the-art facility, while also helping to motivate students to engage deeply in learning.

ZGF Architects served as the architect on the project, with Clark Construction Group LLA serving as general contractor — both of which have offices in Seattle. The project had a quick timeline from start to finish, with construction beginning March 2016 and being completed in July 2017. The project had a budget of $43.4 million.

The four-story, 83,295-square-foot building was designed for maximum flexibility, allowing spaces to be configured for learning across multiple disciplines with room for reconfiguring in the future. The space includes both formal and informal learning spaces for small- and large-group learning. The SPARK includes a marketplace, lobby and event space; a variety of lounge spaces; active learning halls; and flipped classrooms that provide interactive, flexible, student-centered learning experiences. The new innovation hub also provides makerspace and collaboration studios, a media lab, tutoring, faculty hoteling offices and an academic resource center.

The building has 13 flexible learning classrooms, ranging in size from 30 to 120 occupants, with eight study and conference areas for group study — which can be booked by students electronically from within the building. A daylit central stair knits the interior spaces together and provides a dramatic wayfinding element and opportunity for interaction among building users.

One of the most notable features of the building is the classroom-in-the-round — a 275-seat classroom that accommodates 360 degrees of projected content. The classroom includes modular, moveable furniture that allows for classroom-wide discussions as well as smaller group activities. 

There were several major goals for the project, according to Taka Soga, principal at ZGF. “The first was to create innovative and flexible environments that support a wide spectrum of pedagogies and modalities,” said Soga. “We also wanted to showcase technology that advances learning and collaboration both formally and informally. Finally, we wanted to foster learning across multiple disciplines by establishing a nexus between the surrounding academic and housing facilities and the larger campus network.”

The success of the design team in accomplishing all of this and more is particularly impressive, since soon after the project was awarded, there was a 10 percent reduction in the budget, according to Soga.

“Fortunately, both the timing and the highly collaborative nature of all parties involved allowed for the original project scope and host of betterments to be achieved,” said Soga. Successful strategies included prioritization of goals, alternate delivery methods and flexibility in campus standards while maintaining a quality outcome. “In the end, the success of achieving more with less came from the trust and teamwork of the client, builder and designer,” said Soga.

The SPARK is currently tracking LEED Silver; the design of the building incorporates the use of natural light wherever possible to decrease electric energy consumption and uses responsible water management strategies to reduce the building’s water consumption and costs. In addition, the building’s performance optimization systems include the use of heat-recovery wheels and radiant floor and ceiling systems. The SPARK also employs light controls that automatically adjust to ambient light levels and monitoring systems that provide real0time feedback through accessible visual data.

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EVERETT, Wash. — Washington State University North Puget Sound at Everett recently completed the new Everett University Center. The new academic building will serve as an engineering and STEM facility, and is seeking LEED Gold certification.

SRG Partnership was the architect on the project, with Hoffman Construction serving as the general contractor; both companies have offices in Seattle. McKinstry (also of Seattle) was the engineering firm on the project and was responsible for implementing the energy and water conservation measures into the 95,000-square-foot facility. The project had a budget of $65 million, and the building was completed in May 2017 after three years of construction.

With many of the degree programs at this campus focused on engineering and STEM, it was important for that to be reflected in the buildings standards. The facility is equipped with a living laboratory that will provide a real-world learning environment, giving students in the region the skills they need to compete in local and global economies.

The Innovation Forum is the heart of the building as a four-story atrium that links major entry points for students and provides access to the full range of activities within.The Forum also serves as a pre-function space and a gathering place for university and community events.

“Like an interior street, the Forum is fronted by key student support elements with multiple ‘storefronts’ for student services, a tiered lecture hall, a media-rich classroom and the Capstone Studio — an upper-division lab providing students and industry partners a place for invention and innovation,” said Tim Richey, project lead and senior associate at SRG Partnership. 

In total, there are 13 classrooms and nine engineering labs. To the west of the Forum, faculty offices and conference rooms surround a central, light-filled triangular atrium, which provides a place for faculty interaction.

The design team sought to set a high standard for energy performance with the design of the new Everett University Center, and it will now serve as a baseline for future campus development, according to Richey. The thermal envelope far exceeds the state energy code standards, using a rain-screen façade of brick and a metal panel with R-35 insulation and thermally broken cladding supports. A full-building air leakage test revealed a combined average of 0.217 cfm/ft2 at 75 Pa, which is 45 percent better than the Washington State Energy Code, according to Richey.  

Additionally, a low-energy VRF system conditions the classroom and faculty wings. The central Innovation Forum of the facility incorporates mechanically operable windows and louvers, providing fresh air ventilation and natural cooling. During winter months, heat energy is harvested from the building’s data center and reused in the Forum’s hydronic radiant floor. A 75 kW array of photovoltaic panels at the roof is dramatically exposed as the building’s cornice, cantilevering beyond the south façade.

Below the Capstone Studio is a 20,000-gallon cistern that captures rainwater and repurposes it for 100 percent of the toilet and urinal flushing demand between September and June, diverting the surplus to site irrigation. The new facility also boasts a complete LED lighting package. The LEED certification application for the facility is still in process, with certification expected for sometime in 2018.

“One of the unique aspects of the new Washington State University Center is that it’s the first building of what promises to be an extensive branch campus in the future,” said Richey. “Rather than comparing it to projects that have been completed in the past, this building is setting the standard in design character and performance for future campus development that is sure to follow.”

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