Draft:Founders Hall, University of Washington

Founder's Hall
General information
Location	University of Washington
Address	4215 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA 98195
Town or city	Seattle
Country	United States
Opened	06/2022
Design and construction
Architect(s)	LMN
Awards and prizes	2023 Education Facility Design Award — AIA National 2023 World's Most Beautiful Campus Laureate — Prix Versailles 2022 Distinguished Project Award for Public Projects Over $10M — NWCCC 2022 Award for Innovation and Achievement in Sustainability — NWCCC

Founders Hall at the Foster School is a privately funded building on the University of Washington campus. The 85,000 square-foot, five-story building opened in Fall 2022 and replaced MacKenzie Hall..

Founders Hall contains 28 team and interview rooms, four executive conference rooms, and two 135-seat tiered classrooms. The "Center for Centers" houses various experiential learning centers, such as the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship and Global Business Center. Additionally, it accommodates degree program offices, career centers, and interview rooms honoring Foster alumni who served in the U.S. military branches. The building showcases original Indigenous art, commissioned to honor the land's heritage. Two prominent local Native artists, Shaun Peterson and James Madison

Location on the Campus

• From Edge to Center: The former building located between Denny Yard and E Stevens Way NE, was seen as a peripheral boundary to the main campus. Founders hall has transformed this edge into a central gateway and connector, enhancing the flow from the historic central campus to the new North Campus.
• Honoring the Hill: The university campus is noted for its significant hillside location that offers panoramic views, including downtown Seattle and Mount Rainier. Denny Yard is described as a treasured landscape with a beautiful, traditional ecology. The landscaping for Founders Hall respects this heritage and the site dynamics, such as sunlight and shade, and will focus on enhancing pedestrian experiences and water flow.
• A Complete Denny Yard: The Founders Hall is fully integrated into Denny Yard, improving spatial and visual connections. The building's design is sensitive to the sight lines, paths, and the overall experience of the Yard. The goal is to honor the traditional character of Denny Yard while establishing a distinct landscape experience for Founders Hall, which will house the Foster School of Business. This is part of a strategy to leverage the existing iconic campus axis system to forge a new type of connection.

Architecture(Low Carbon Sustainable Design)

Founders Hall, a new addition to the Foster School of Business complex at the University of Washington, significantly enhances the school's facilities and strengthens its connection to the historic Denny Yard. As the first fully mass timber building on campus, Founders Hall stands out for its commitment to sustainability, achieving over 90% reduction in carbon emissions in alignment with the University of Washington Green Building Standards.

The architectural design of Founders Hall incorporates three distinct volumes that seamlessly integrate student collaboration areas, administrative offices, lecture halls, and communal spaces, all linked together by an impressive five-story steel and wood staircase. This staircase is part of the community connector, which also includes circulation areas and two tiered classrooms. The team bar area offers ample team and conference rooms, topped with a rooftop event space. The building's design features a unique peeled-away brick façade and strategic glazing to showcase the timber structure within and afford views of the surrounding Douglas firs, enhancing the building's connection to the northwest forest environment.

Reflecting the dynamic social nature of contemporary business, Founders Hall is designed not just as a space for education but as a beacon of sustainability and innovation, aiming to inspire future generations of business leaders with its environmentally conscious construction and design.