Interdisciplinary Engineering Building

What does it take to unite ten distinct departments around a shared vision of collaboration, hands-on learning, and co-curricular community?

The University of Washington’s College of Engineering faced a fundamental challenge in that ten separate academic departments operated without a unifying space where undergraduate students and faculty could collaborate and build community. The solution was the 75,000 square foot Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB), an innovative response in both process and design.

A design-build team commitment began with a robust Project Definition phase which yielded team consensus that the intended program could indeed be realized on this specific site for the agreed upon budget. Distinguished by stakeholder engagement centered on equity and inclusion, we established a clear mandate that every program within the building would be student-centered. The result is architecture that doesn’t merely house engineering education; it transforms it.

Situated on the eastern slope of central campus, the IEB sets a precedent for future development while responding to its immediate context. The site’s defining feature, a steep west-to-east downslope, became the project’s greatest design opportunity. The design leverages this dramatic grade change to engage three of the building’s five levels directly with the terrain, creating multiple entrances and an interior program distribution that reduces congestion and disruptive cross-traffic. Developed in close collaboration with the landscape architect, PLACE, the IEB was designed around significant trees at the site’s perimeter. This commitment to preservation produces a building that withholds its full presence on arrival, unfolding gradually into its surroundings.

Programming draws from across the College’s academic departments, fostering interdisciplinary education and fundamental skills training for all engineering students. The IEB is the first of its kind among the twenty-five buildings currently housing the College of Engineering, a true home base for the on-campus experience of UW engineering students—especially those in their first year that are in the midst of finding their particular degree track.

The building’s strength lies in its flexibility. Facilitating collaboration across disciplines at every level, the building includes student advising, maker spaces, a career center, teaching labs, academic tutoring seminars, the Office of Inclusive Excellence, and general-purpose classrooms accommodating nearly 500 total students.

Working closely with Hensel Phelps from project outset, the integrated team remained agile through a volatile construction market. UW’s integrated design-build model enabled efficient decision-making, allowing discrete scopes of work to advance independently along timelines driven by phased permitting and balancing immediate needs with long-term flexibility.

Among the IEB’s most significant achievements is its all-electric building system, a deliberate departure from the campus’ fossil-fuel-powered steam plant. This decision followed extensive research and dialogue between the design team and university, carefully weighing carbon costs, maintenance requirements, and system complexity. Paired with on-site solar generation, the building operates as a net energy contributor. A high-performance envelope exceeds Seattle’s building code and approaches Phius standards.

The IEB represents more than efficient space planning; it embodies a new philosophy of engineering education. By creating flexible, silo-free learning environments, the building prepares students for careers in industry and entrepreneurship that increasingly demand interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration.