CENTER TABLE AT UW NORTH CAMPUS

Location:  Seattle, Washington
Type:   Institutional
Sustainability: Pursuing LEED (Phase IVa)

As part of an ambitious plan to rebuild their student life infrastructure, the University of Washington has engaged in a series of projects to replace nearly their entire stock of residence halls on the campus.  Phase 4a of the overall scheme is the first on North Campus. The three-building project includes several new campus amenities, the largest of which is a new central dining facility named Center Table.

Graham Baba provided interior design, furniture selection and architecture services for Center Table in collaboration with shell & core architect KieranTimberlake. In designing dining, open food preparation, and crafted recreational spaces, the team sought to create a meaningful central destination that supports the new residence halls and campus-wide student life. The Center Table dining facility has become a north campus hub that allows for the connection of students through a true merging of living, learning, and recreation.

Six individually branded food “platforms” provide students with a full range of menu options and dining experiences that are interspersed within a variety of social and seating areas. The goal was to create an environment that sustains the student body both dietarily and socially by creating a hub that allows for a mixture of social interaction. The dining facility is nestled within newly curated outdoor spaces with a backdrop of old growth groves that give the North Campus its distinct feel and help to connect the students to each other and the campus at large.

Photography: Matthew Millman
Shell & Core Architect: KieranTimberlake
Landscape Architect: OLIN
Structural Engineer: Coughlin Porter Lundeen
Civil Engineer: KPFF
Mechanical Plumbing Engineer: Rushing with Tres West
Electrical Engineer: Travis Fitzmaurice
Lighting Design: FMS
Building Enclosure Consulting: RDH
Acoustical Consulting: A3 Acoustics
LEED Admin/Sustainability: O’Brien360
Signage & Graphics: Studio SC
Accessibility Consulting: Studio Pacifica
General Contractors: WG Clark & Absher Construction

Awards:
AIA National Housing Award
AIA Philadelphia Sustainability Honor Award
AIA Seattle Award of Merit
AIA Washington Civic Design Honor Award
Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Awards
Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Awards Honorable Mention
SCUP Merit Award