Newest addition to Washington State University-Vancouver honored at Top Projects event
Upon its completion in 2011, planners and school boosters hope the Engineering and Computer Science Building at Washington State University-Vancouver will become a magnet for the region's ascendant tech industry.
In the meantime, this ambitious $26 million effort led by general contractor Hoffman Construction Co. of Portland will have to settle for being the Vancouver Business Journal's Top Project of 2010.
As of press time, representatives from Hoffman and university officials were scheduled to accept the award – the highest honor given at VBJ's annual Top Projects event, held this year on Thursday, Sept. 16 at WSUV's growing campus in Salmon Creek.
The 56,000-sq.-ft., four-story facility, which broke ground in the summer of 2009, was selected by a panel of business community members including representatives of the commercial real estate, financial, construction, insurance and professional services industries.
The panel's selection of the Engineering and Computer Science Building as this year's Top Project centered on three of seven criteria, including the impact it would have on future economies, the impact on the community and the potential to have a positive effect on creating jobs.
"The panel was very focused on how these projects would play out in the community especially as they relate to jobs," said John McDonagh, publisher of the VBJ.
According to McDonagh, the panelists were won over by the project's potential for business partnerships and product development from the educational programs which will be housed in the building.
Designed by LMN Architects, with planning and engineering work performed by Harper Houf Peterson Righellis, Walker Macy and Brightworks, among others, the project will create research, teaching and laboratory classroom space for two of WSUV's fastest growing programs, computer sciences and electrical engineering.
And in an increasing trend towards energy-efficient public buildings, the project is on target to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environment Design "silver" certification, according to a scorecard dated July 28 of this year.
The new classroom building at WSUV was one of 38 featured in this year's Top Projects, for the first time divided into Commercial, Public Works and Residential categories. And like many of the projects which broke ground during a tough year for the private sector, the Engineering and Computer Science Building was partially paid for with public funds.
"This building is more than concrete, steel and glass. It is a place for sharing ideas and dreams, for learning and growing, and a place of knowledge and hope," said Dan Bothell, the school's project manager. "We strive to offer degree programs that contribute to the successful future of the people and businesses that make Southwest Washington their home."
School officials and local business leaders, especially in the talent-driven tech industry, looked to the project to help train students in the high-demand fields of computer science and engineering.
"This building is planned to provide a higher level of training for local engineering students and, in turn, a local, skilled workforce for that industry," said Dave Smith, WSUV's director of capital planning, in an interview with the VBJ in October 2009. "The smaller facility will, in some ways, also act as a business incubator for the high-tech industry."
The "smaller facility" Smith refers to is the planned Semiconductor Component Testing Facility, a laboratory which would connect to the Engineering and Computer Science Building to provide student and teacher access to semiconductor equipment worth between $2 and $4 million.
"It's really extending the classroom experience to the highest levels of those fields," Smith said.
