Seattle, Washington

Completion Date: July 2011

Owner: Seattle Public Schools

Program: A two-story, 218,500-square-foot public high school with classrooms, a student activity center, a multipurpose forum for presentations and lectures, a library, TV and radio studios, a gymnasium, and offices. Mahlum modernized 204,000 square feet of the school's existing precast and cast-in-place concrete structure from the early 1960s, and expanded the program with an additional 14,500 square feet. New spaces include art classrooms, a fitness center, and an extension of an existing wing that now houses the library. Mahlum also designed the school's performing arts center, which was completed in 2005. After school hours, many of the common areas (including the library and performing arts center) are open to the community for meetings and events.
 
Design Concept and Solution: When Mahlum began work on Nathan Hale, the school was essentially a closed concrete box, full of long, windowless corridors that isolated students in mazelike paths and concealed the layout of the program. The architects decided to orient the building around the students by carving out a central social space that also clarifies circulation. Mahlum removed a concrete stair in a main corridor to create a clear east-west view through the building. They organized the student commons around two existing interior courtyards—one north of the main corridor, one south—that had previously been cut off from view. The architects removed concrete infill panels from the courtyard-facing walls, leaving the structural columns, and fitted the openings with windows. Along the northern courtyard, the architects added the second commons by relocating some classrooms and removing the floor slab to create a double-height space. On the second floor, they gutted everything in order to carve out new collaborative spaces for group work: the classrooms receded by about ten feet, leaving room in the corridors for new glass conference rooms and computer stations. For the interior finishes, Mahlum's strategy was to expose the concrete structure—removing dropped ceilings, for instance—and paint the concrete white. To advertise the new library's off-hours role as a community center, the architects situated the library at the eastern, public edge of the site. Its curtain wall and corrugated metal wall panels echo the facade of the performing arts center at the school's western edge. Together, the two buildings bookend the original school, serving as glazed beacons for passersby.

Location:
10750 30th Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98125

Total construction cost:  $62.5 million

People

Owner:
Seattle Public Schools

Architect:
Mahlum
71 Columbia, Floor 4
Seattle, Washington 98104
Tel: 206.441.4151
Fax: 206.441.4078

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Partner in Charge: Gerald (Butch) Reifert FAIA

Design Partner:  Anne Schopf FAIA

Project Designer: JoAnn Wilcox AIA LEED AP

Project Manager: Dwayne Epp AIA LEED AP

Project Architects: Corrie Rosen AIA LEED AP
Jay Hindmarsh AIA LEED AP

Interior Designer: Jeanelle Owens NCIDQ

All of the above are registered architects with the exception of Jeanelle Owens.

Engineer(s):
Structural & Civil Engineer: Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Inc.

Mech/Elec Engineer: Hargis Engineers, Inc.

Consultant(s)
Landscape: Murase Associates

Acoustical: Listen Acoustics

Other:
Food Service: Bundy & Associates

Hardware Consultant: Adams Consulting & Estimating

Cost Estimator: The Robinson Company

General contractor:
Absher Construction Company

Photographer(s):
Benjamin Benschneider
(206) 919-2030
bbenschneider@comcast.net

CAD system, project management, or other software used:
AutoCad
Sketchup

  

Products

Structural system:
Existing precast concrete and cast-in-place concrete

Exterior cladding
Aluminum-Framed Entrances and Storefronts: EFCO Corporation

Aluminum-Framed Curtain Walls: EFCO Corporation

Concrete:
Existing precast concrete, cast-in-place concrete and brick.

Metal Wall Panel:     
Centria
AEP Span

Roofing
Built-up roofing:
Built-Up Bitiminous Roofing: Soprema, Inc.
TPO Roofing System: Carlisle SynTec

Windows
Aluminum-Framed Entrances and Storefronts: EFCO Corporation

Aluminum-Framed Curtain Walls: EFCO Corporation

Glazing
Glass: Hartung

Unit Skylights: Sunoptics Prismatic Skylights

Doors
Aluminum-Framed Entrances and Storefronts: EFCO Corporation

Metal Doors and Frames: Curries Company

Flush Wood Doors: VT Industries

Overhead coiling doors & Side folding Grilles: Cornell Iron Works, Inc.

Special doors:
Acoustic Doors and Frames: Overly Door Company

Hardware
Locksets: Sargent Manufacturing Co.

Hinges:
McKinney
Pemko Manufacturing
Henry Soss & Co.

Top and Bottom Pivots: Rixson

Closers:
Norton Door Controls

Exit devices:
Sargent Manufacturing Co.

Pulls:
Tice Industries

Security devices:
Architectural Control Systems Inc.

Interior finishes
Perforated Acoustical Gypsum Board: Danoline

Acoustical Ceiling Tiles and Panels: Tectum Inc.
Armstrong
Ecophon (Saint-Gobain)

Pyramidal Diffusers: Wall Technology, Inc.

Suspension grid:
Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Cabinetwork and custom woodwork:
Westmark Products, Inc.

Paints and stains:
The Sherwin Williams Company
Tnemec Inc.

Wallcoverings:
Polished Veneer Plaster: Armourcoat Ltd
Perforated Wood Veneer Faced Acoustical Wall & Ceiling Panels: Decoustics
Acoustical Wall Panels: Jasco Acoustical Wall and Ceiling Products
Wall Technology, Inc.
(Panels were fabric wrapped with fabrics from:
Maharam and Guilford – InterFACE Fabrics)

Tackable Wall Surfaces: Tretford Eurotex
Forbo Linoleum

Paneling:
Flakeboard Vesta particle board

Plastic laminate:
Formica
Nevamar

Special surfacing:
Epoxy Resin Sinks & Countertops (at Science Labs): Durcon Incorporated
Solid Surfacing: DuPont Corian

Manufactured Stone Countertops: Pental Tile & Marble

Ceramic Wall Tile: Pental Stone and Tile (student bathrooms)
Daltile (staff bathrooms, kitchenettes, HNCS lab)

Resilient Flooring: Armstrong (Migrations)
Forbo Marmoleum
Johnsonite

Resilient Athletic Flooring: Action Floor Systems

Carpet: Collins & Aikman

Walk off Mat: Van Dijk Carpet

Retro-plated Concrete Floor Finish: Retro-plate Concrete

Epoxy Flooring: Dex-O-Tex

Lighting
Interior ambient lighting:
Litecontrol
Columbia
Pathway
Luminaire
Majestic
Light Edge
Delray

Downlights:
Prescolite

Exterior:
Se’Lux
Allscape
Sistemalux
Spaulding

Controls:
Hubbell Building Automation

Conveyance
Elevators/Escalators:
Hydraulic Elevator: Vertical Express

Accessibility provision:
Wheelchair Lift: Garaventa Lift

Plumbing
Drinking Fountains: Halsey Taylor

Dual Flush Water Closet: Kohler (with Sloan flush valve)

Low Flow Urinal: Kohler (with Sloan flush valve)