CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (CC4) PREDESIGN
Cascadia College | Bothell, Washington
Completed: 2019
To remain a viable choice for post-secondary education and a successful transfer portal, Cascadia established as its primary goals for the Center for Science and Technology (CC4) that it both improve student access to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) degrees and promote the integration of STEM programs with the humanities. Through the State Board for Community and Technical College’s capital project submission process, the Center for Science and Technology entered the capital funding pipeline in 2016. SWL Architects assisted the college in programming and preparing the successful Project Request Report, and was subsequently selected to lead the CC4 pre-design study.
OFM intends that the pre-design process be an opportunity to investigate alternate solutions to stated problems. To that end, SWL Architects analyzed available rental properties in the area, considered renovations to existing campus facilities, and investigated several sites available for new construction. The core committee concluded that an all-new facility, positioned on a sloping site at the southern edge of Cascadia’s portion of the shared campus, offers the best opportunity to improve STEM-specific educational outcomes for Cascadia’s students.
A second essential purpose of pre-design is to verify that the scope and budget for a planned facility are aligned. While the PRR proposed it be a 66,100 gsf facility, pressures specific to the state’s capital project budgeting process coupled with persistently high construction cost escalation dictated CC4 be reduced in size to fit within available funding. The pre-design programming process identified synergies between programs and functions, including identifying spaces that could be shared, and concluded that 54,000 gsf would be sufficient without any loss of function.
After completion of the pre-design, UW Bothell and Cascadia agreed to jointly develop a larger shared facility in the location identified for CC4.