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An architect's conception of the new buildings.
Facilities for genome sciences and bioengineering will be constructed on the westside of the UW Health Sciences complex. The two, joined buildings are expected to be completed in 2005.
The $150 million project will provide 265,000 square-feet of space in which genomic researchers and bioengineers will conduct work in emerging areas of study. The UW has already made many significant contributions in bioengineering technologies and in advancing knowledge about the genomes of several plants and animals, as well as the human genome. The facilities, designed for the gathering of multidisciplinary teams, will foster continuing scientific progress.
Of the total building cost, $60 million will be paid by a gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of a $70 million gift. The gift was the largest single private donation made to higher education in the Northwest. Additional funding includes $12 million from the federal government, $10 million from the Whitaker Foundation, and gifts from other private sources.
The UW has been a major center for genetic and bioengineering research for nearly 50 years. The reputation of its research teams has helped recruit other leading scientists to the UW faculty. Three key figures on the Human Genome Project, Drs. Philip P. Green, Maynard V. Olson, and Robert H. Waterston, are professors of genomic sciences. They were among eight genome scientists worldwide to receive the prestigious Gairdner International Award in 2002.
"UW Medicine is fortunate to have attracted a number of the world's top genome scientists," wrote Dr. Paul G. Ramsey, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the UW School of Medicine, in announcing the gifts that will fund the buildings. "Now we will be able to build an environment that inspires and encourages the collaboration necessary to conduct studies that will lead to global health advances."
The new facilities will house four elements crucial to genomics research: computational biology, technology development, experimental genetics, and human genetics. In addition, for the first time all the programs in the Department of Bioengineering will be located together in one facility.
The buildings were designed by Anshen + Allen Los Angeles. The company's other architectural projects in the academic arena include the Molecular Sciences Building at University of California Los Angeles, the East Building at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., the Powell-Focht Bioengineering Building at University of California San Diego, and the Engineering Sciences Building at University of California Santa Barbara.
The general contractor and construction manager is Hoffman Construction.
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