Western Washington University's Communications Facility

Challenges Tackled by Teamwork

by Sheila Bacon

The new Communication Facility project at Western Washington University is a testament to the importance of teamwork.

Despite a difficult excavation process, a mechanical subcontractor that defaulted during the coordination drawing phase and problems that come with building a large, complex project under the traditional low-bid scenario, construction has stayed on track. The building plans to open to students in January.

Western Washington University's new Communications Facility is divided into two wings separated by a four-story atrium and central stairway. One wing houses classrooms and labs and the other departmental and facility offices. Rendering courtesy of ZGF

Hoffman Construction of Seattle won the $22.2 million contract for the job. The general contractor has offered construction and design expertise and value engineering ideas from the beginning, but because the university must follow the state's low-bid procurement process, Hoffman is not involved until the design is complete.

Add in a sophisticated and intricate building design by Seattle architects Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, and the challenges grow.

"It just takes more of a team effort than most," said Lyle Martin, Hoffman project director.

And a good group of subs. Martin said he was impressed with the work of Bellingham-based IMCO. The excavation subcontractor encountered a great deal of hard rock and poor weather during its work last fall, "but they never let that slow them down," said Martin.

And when the job's original mechanical contractor ran into financial trouble and had to leave the job, local contractor Diamond B Constructors took over with minimal impact to the project.

Four academic departments will be housed in the new Communications Facility: communication, computer science, journalism and physics, as well as general university classrooms with 950 seats. The facility will also offer six fixed-seat lecture halls and six general university computer labs.

Structurally, the building is divided into two wings separated by a four-story atrium and central stairway, one wing housing classrooms and labs and the other housing departmental and facility offices, said Ed Simpson, the project's manager with WWU.

The building is large for the campus and had to be designed to blend in with other campus structures, said Ev Ruffcorn, design partner with ZGF. The glass atrium permits some views through the building, which helps it appear smaller in scale, Ruffcorn added.

Varying facades also helps reduce the scale of the building. One wing features brick and precast concrete elements to blend in with a nearby concrete building. One side of the other wing - which fronts the nearby Sehome Hill Arboretum - is clad in copper siding. Designers hope that as the copper ages and takes on a green hue, it will blend gracefully with the tones of the arboretum.