Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

UW Tacoma Starts Construction on New Academic Building

  • By Matt Jones
  • 07/21/21

Construction has begun on a new academic building on the campus of the University of Washington Tacoma in Tacoma, Washington. Milgard Hall, which will stand three stories tall and cover 55,000 square feet, will house classes and office space for the Milgard School of Business, lab space for the School of Engineering and Technology and expanded space for the Global Innovation and Design Lab, as well as general classrooms.

“We were already working on this project because the campus is growing so fast,” said UWT Chancellor Mark Pagano. The university has an enrollment of about 5,400 students, about 1,000 more than when Pagano assumed his current role in 2015. UWT plans to introduce new degree programs in mechanical engineering this fall and civil engineering next fall, and accommodating this student population growth was a major factor in the building’s construction.

According to the university website, the project’s overall goals are to promote interdisciplinary innovation through shared space and foster interactions among faculty, staff and students. The new facility will also open up various spaces around campus to allow other programs room to grow.

The university gained $36 million in funding from the state and $10 million in fundraising from the university and private donors. The building will be named after James A. and Carolyn Milgard and the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundations, which provided $8 million toward the project’s development.

The university has partnered with Anderson Construction and Architecture Research Office for construction, which is scheduled for completion in fall 2022. Construction materials include cross-laminated timber, which Pagano said was chosen for sustainability purposes as well as to live up to the city’s moniker as the “Lumber Capital of the World.”

“We believe that [Milgard Hall] will help us take our next step forward and serve the needs of the students we have on campus now, but we believe we’re going to be out of space if we’re growing at the rate we’ve had in the past,” he said.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • College of the Desert Hits Construction Milestone on New Campus

    College of the Desert recently announced that the construction of its new Palm Springs Campus in Palm Springs, Calif., recently reached a major construction milestone, according to a news release. The college is partnering with general contractor C.W. Driver Companies, which recently “topped out” the facility by placing the final beam in its structure.

  • Moline-Coal Valley School District to Consolidate Two Schools into New Facility

    The Moline-Coal Valley School District in Moline, Ill., recently broke ground on a new elementary school that will consolidate the students and staff from two existing schools, according to local news. Robert Ontiveros Elementary School will serve as the new home for Lincoln-Irving Elementary School and Willard Elementary School.

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.

  • Hawaii Elementary School Breaks Ground on New Classroom Building

    Kealakehe Elementary School in Kailua, Hawaii, recently began construction on a new, $16-million classroom building for its campus, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot building will stand two stories and connect the existing upper and lower campuses.