Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Public Health Sciences Building

The Hutch Rolls Out Welcome Mat with New Building

by Sheila Bacon

The main entrance to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's new Public Health Sciences Building faces what will eventually be the center of the campus. Future plans call for more development around the new structure. Photo by Sheila Bacon

With a dramatic helical staircase in a light-gathering center atrium and sweeping views of Lake Union, the newest building on the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center campus promises to be the center's most visually attractive.

The new $87 million (construction cost) Public Health Sciences Building, which will house clinical, office, lab and research space, was designed to serve as a welcoming beacon for the campus' users.

"This building creates a new 'front door' for the Hutch," said Allyn Stellmacher, principal and project designer for Seattle's Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership.

The total 372,000-gross-sq.-ft. building with additional underground parking is part of a long-term plan to consolidate all of the center's divisions, said Scott Rusch, director of facilities for the research renter. Once the building is complete in mid-December, the center will begin vacating space it is currently leasing in the Metropolitan Park Building in downtown Seattle, and by March all campus operations will be located just east of Lake Union.

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Though only five stories tall, the new building has massive, 65,000-sq.-ft. floor plates, requiring creativity on the part of the designers to soften its exterior and maximize daylight inside. The front of the building, facing Fairview and Lake Union, steps back as it goes up creating a series of stepped terraces and softening the façade. Ribbons of windows offer views of the nearby Space Needle and Lake Union.

"It makes a large building feel not so overbearing," Stellmacher said.

The atrium, which cuts through all five floors, allows daylight into deep interior spaces that are far from exterior windows and also drops light into clinical areas and research spaces below grade. A half helix-shaped staircase winds up through the atrium, providing continuity for skybridges at each level.

"It's like an outdoor space that's indoor," Stellmacher added.

The staircase and skybridges give users an option - other than elevators - to move throughout the building, and encourages social interaction.

The west side of the new building fronts Fairview Avenue, and the structure's ribbons of windows provide striking views of Lake Union and the nearby Space Needle. Photo by Sheila Bacon

Build-Out Challenges

The large footprint challenged builders as well as designers. The building is much wider than it is tall, so the construction schedule would not allow the entire shell of the building to be enclosed before build-out began.

To keep on track, interior build-out had to start well before the roof and exterior walls were in place, said Jeff Smith, Turner Construction (Seattle) project superintendent. Last winter, mechanical, electrical and plumbing rough-in crews followed directly behind shell construction, working under a temporary false roof that was created at every deck.

"This kept us from having to ramp up manpower at the end," Smith added.

The site's location at the base of a hillside and near a lake meant groundwater was an issue during excavation, and an elaborate dewatering system was necessary, said Craig Holt, Turner project manager. Dewatering wells were put into place around the perimeter of the site, creating a "curtain" that would direct water flowing down from Capitol Hill around the jobsite.

The pumps ran 24 hours a day during the excavation phase, moving between 80 and 120 gallons of water a minute away from the jobsite.

A secant wall - a type of watertight barrier used frequently in dam construction - on the Lake Union side of the project kept lake water away from the hole.

Building such a large structure in an area surrounded by a busy business campus is never easy, but Turner crews are minimizing the impact by tightly scheduling deliveries and keeping staging to a minimum, Smith said. Despite significant project-associated utility relocation and roadwork that realigns nearby Aloha Street, impact to busy Fairview has been minimal, he added.

Impact to existing Fred Hutchinson operations is unavoidable, but the cancer research center has worked around it, Rusch said.

"Turner and their subs are working very well together, as well as the whole design team," he said.

Useful Sources:
REVISED: 07/04: http://www.turnerconstruction.com/seattle/content.asp?d=1335

http://www.fhcrc.org/admin/facilities/

Project Team
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Public Health Sciences Building
Owner: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
General Contractor: Turner Construction Co., Seattle
Architect: Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, Seattle
Structural Engineer: KPFF, Seattle