By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
The Spokane architectural firm of Madsen Mitchell Evenson and Conrad was presented one of three Honor Awards for its work on Eastern Washington University's Hargreaves Hall at the biennial American Institute of Architects Spokane Design Awards on Sept. 23. There were 22 local projects submitted and judged by four architectural peers from the AIA Minneapolis, Minn. chapter.
The other two projects receiving Honor Awards are the NAC Architecture Office Addition and Washington State University's College of Nursing Building. The award is the second for Hargreaves Hall, which also received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold rating for its use of “low environmental impact materials and design methods, as well as giving special attention to natural lighting, low maintenance landscaping and other environmentally sensitive products and designs.”
“It was nice,” Doug Mitchell of Madsen Mitchell Evenson and Conrad said of the AIA award. “It was gratifying because there was a lot of hard work put into that project.”
The $10.8 million remodel of Hargreaves Hall was completed in 2008 with a grand opening in September 2009. Mitchell said the project was a challenge for a number of reasons.
The building was originally built in 1940 as the university's first library, and it underwent a remodel in the 1960s that turned it into a classroom facility. Restoring it to its original condition meant replacing those classrooms with a new 22,000 square foot western wing that incorporated all necessities and technology needed for a modern classroom facility.
But because Eastern is one of only a handful of universities in the country with a historic district, remodeling of Hargreaves' original 35,000 square feet and construction of the addition had to be done in a way that wouldn't compromise its inclusion on the National Registry of Historic Places.
“There was a lot of debate about what was the right approach to the project,” Mitchell said.
In fact, in a May 10, 2007 Cheney Free Press story firm principal Sue Lani Madsen told the Cheney Historical Preservation Commission 127 proposals had been made to the project in attempts to receive approval.
No. 128 presented to the commission at their May 3 meeting was approved.
Other challenges with the Hargreaves project proved to be construction during one of the region's snowiest winters along with incorporating modern design materials and methods in lighting, heating, air conditioning and ventilation into a structure in order to give the look of restoration to its original condition.
One of the hallmarks of the project has proven to be the restoration of the original 5,500 square foot reading room, complete with two-story tall arched windows. The hall had been installed with a third floor in the 1960s in order to create more classroom space.
“It was pretty interesting when they tore out those beams,” Mitchell said of the hall's restoration. “It is such an impressive space.”
The Reading Room now serves as a flexible special events venue. Madsen Mitchell Evenson and Conrad also utilized the building's outer western wall as an inside wall for the new addition.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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