let's gather — irrtnl [ira demianiuk]

UW Club Reopening

The University of Washington Club Reopening project aims to transform the building into an attractive and inviting place for each group of campus visitors: students, faculty, community, and businesses, while providing a comfortable, sustainable, and inspiring environment that stimulates research, innovation, and collaboration with allied industries.

Revamping the club into an experimental community center that incorporates a flexible planning framework, connects the campus internally and with its broader context to encourage collaboration and practical experience, and introduces more sustainability features is a response to the latest trends in education and future campus development plans.

Context and Design Intent

The UW Club was built by Paul Hayden Kirk and Victor Steinbrueck in 1960. It is located on the campus of University of Washington in Seattle.
The initial design reflected modernist ideas shaped with simple and elegant geometric forms due to their efficiency and low cost.
In the summer of 2020, the UW Club was permanently closed due to the original economic model being unsustainable.
Failing to sustain itself as an exclusive, faculty-only building for social events, the University of Washington Club is in need of a new breath of life.

Program Adjustment

Existing Building Program

Currently the main function of the building is a recreational area with a large dining room and several meeting rooms.
New Building Program. Option 1: Pandemic Time

For the first option, which is applicable during current pandemic times, the proposal is to reduce common meeting spaces and increase the research lab area to 40% of the building and office spaces to 10%. Recreational area is mainly located outside and is reduced from 50% to 29%.
To provide a safe and cheerful environment for studying and collaboration, a tracking system and colorful acrylic panels are available throughout each floor. They allow users to adjust the needed amount of enclosed space for various purposes, from official meetings in the incubator to private coffee breaks in the café.
New Building Program. Option 2: Post-Pandemic Time

Second option is for post-pandemic times, and its main difference is growth of the office area from 10% to 29% which promotes collaboration and gatherings. In this case, less partitions can be used to provide more open space.