New exhibition traces the building of Schweitzer Engineering Hall

Many engineering, construction management, and design students sit in their classes day after day learning skills they will need to literally build a building.

Meanwhile, in the past three years, Schweitzer Engineering Hall has grown up nearby them on the WSU Pullman campus - from ideas and drawings to a foundation, HVAC systems, glass windows, wood clad steel-frame staircases, and new classroom designs.

The School of Design and Construction is celebrating the new building and the collaborative design and construction that went into it with a gallery exhibition on the first floor of WSU's Carpenter Hall. The exhibition, on display until March 26, documents the building's journey.

Schweitzer Hall, set to open this fall, will be the central hub and welcoming front door for the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture and will include multipurpose classrooms, event spaces, club and showcase areas, collaborative workspaces, project-based classrooms, advising, tutoring, and career placement services. The approximately $80 million project was made possible by donor and state support, including $40 million from the Washington Legislature as well as a combined $20 million from Edmund and Beatriz Schweitzer and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.

At an opening reception for the exhibition held last week, WSU School of Design and Construction alumni along with building and design professionals who led the Schweitzer project talked with students about the multidisciplinary effort and the continuous collaboration that the project entailed as well as their pleasure in bringing the project to WSU.

"This is an institution of learning, and we have the opportunity to impact thousands of people over the life of the project - not just the occupants who are going to be there on day one, but year after year," said Sara Howell, architect and design project manager with ZGF. "Can I tell you how excited the entire team was to contribute to this project? Especially in a project like this, where it's engineering and architecture and interior design and landscape architecture -Everyone was just wanting to do their best, and it was near and dear to so many people's hearts."

In addition to Howell, the speakers included alumni David Grant ('93, landscape architecture) with ZGF; and Joshua Thomson ('21, construction management and architecture), builder and project manager with Lease Crutcher Lewis; along with Mackenzie Elrod, interior designer with ZGF. The speakers discussed how their varied industries and disciplines work together to create such spectacular built environments.

The progressive design build process to build Schweitzer brought the designer, builders, and owner, which is WSU, together as a team. The team was large and included numerous WSU alumni professionals, who were involved in bringing the building to reality. A building committee from WSU was involved throughout the design process.

"This project serves as a real-world example of how all four disciplines here in the School of Design and Construction work together in the professional world of design and construction," said Rick Cherf, professor and head of the school's construction management program.