Fabricating Community Through Space

Founders Hall rises to house the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. The six-story mass timber building provides instructional, academic and administrative spaces, including classrooms, offices, team rooms, workshop space and large common areas. In order to create a greater sense of community, Founders Hall is thoughtfully nestled into a major gateway through the campus, making is a key space of connection to the rest of campus. Holmes conducted full code consulting on Founders Hall through a Design-Build delivery method.

In order to extend the mass timber element of the building higher than four-stories, the project team designed a concrete core structure to hold all assembly spaces and large meetings rooms, with a mass timber structure surrounding the core. A faux atrium connects the assembly space: Holmes’ code consulting avoided costly smoke control requirements for a traditional atrium classification. The opening connects various building programming, a key goal of the University of Washington.

Additionally, Holmes assisted with the fire resistance requirements for the mass timber elements of the building.