Jan. 2014 | Return to issue home

Odegaard Library renovation receives national AIA honor

The interior renovation of this library at the University of Washington not only transformed an outmoded 1970s-era building but also reimagined the learning experience for students in the 21st century. The project also recognizes the inherent sustainability in renovation and reuse of a facility versus building new. Removal of the building’s most dominant feature, the imposing central staircase, essentially “found” an additional 6,000 square feet of previously underused space, the equivalent of 36 dorm rooms.

Constructed 40 years ago with few updates since, the massive 165,000-square-foot building could no longer keep pace with changes in learning, technology, and energy use and was long overdue for an update. The architect worked with faculty to identify a set of learning behaviors the building needed to support, then developed an architectural “kit of parts” to address each one: active learning, discovery of collection, consultation, prototyping, informal learning, individual study, and production. Each piece of the kit is color coded to highlight its significance in the academic experience.

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Photo: Odegaard Library interior, photo by AC Petersen.

Jan. 2014 | Return to issue home