Award-winning firm creates unique structure
by Penney White

One year ago UWT marked the opening of the Keystone building with a ribbon cutting ceremony. This year LMN Architects, the designers responsible for the triangle building, received a prestigious Award of Merit for their work on the site.

This is one of a continuing streak of awards the company has won in honor of their hard work and style brought to the appearance of the university.

The triangle facility was designed to fit in a small area between the Science and Garretson-Woodruff-Pratt buildings adjacent to the railroad tracks that cut through the courtyards and pathways.

To equal the surrounding rehabilitated historic structures, LMN Architects upheld its philosophy. That is, they believe architecture must be contemporary and address the present conditions with a prospective on both historic influences and future impacts, according to their Web site.

“I’m very impressed with the way the University has tried to renovate the buildings it’s using for the campus instead of just raising the building and putting in what they wanted to. I was afraid when they settled on this area for the campus, they were going to just walk in and do what they wanted without regard for the surrounding community,” said Mr. Warren a patron at a local coffee shop.

The firm’s philosophy can be seen in the use of visible iron, glass and sleek lines of modern design but also in the use of classic red bricks of yesteryear that coincides with the brick of the rehabilitated warehouses now housing UWT’s classrooms, technical facilities and administrative offices.

On the other hand the masonry of the Keystone building holds a purpose of its own. It, along with modern insulation, shelters the many students and staff that use the 180-seat auditorium and Teaching and Learning Center within the building from the repeated interruption of the train horn that echoes through the canyons of the campus on a daily basis.

“Classes usually pause as the trains make their loud trip through the campus. The horn usually drowns out our voices, being so close to the tracks. You can still hear the train in the Teaching Center but it doesn’t stop conversation in here,” said a student enlisting help at the Teaching and Learning Center.

LMN Architects is very pleased and honored to receive this Award of Merit from The American Institute of Architects’ Seattle chapter.

The jurors said the building, “takes full advantage of a tight urban space with transit connections that lend vigor and viability to its function. With its muscular trusses, it participates in the character of the site, adding a contemporary response to traditional building forms and adapting their vocabulary to new uses.”

This is one of five awards received by LMN Architecture for work on the University of Washington, Tacoma since 1998. The billion dollar company has designed more than 120 projects in 29 states and six foreign countries, and is one of the largest firms in the Pacific Northwest. They will be adding this award to the more than 95 design awards including a 2001 National Honor Award for Seattle Symphony’s Benaroya Hall.

UWT’s architectural award winning campus is held in as high a regard as the Redmond Town Center and the Hawaii Convention Center, both designed by LMN.

The staff from the Teaching and Learning Center in the Keystone building is pleased with the new location of the center and interested to hear about the award. “I like the shape of the building, the modern streamline form,” said one of the volunteers at the center.

The Northwest based company has many projects in the millworks. They are responsible for the new convention center in Tacoma as well as renovation of five more historical warehouses for the UWT campus’ use.