PORT ANGELES — When the last concrete pour is finished this week, the load-bearing walls for the massive 61,750-square-foot Maier Hall on Peninsula College’s Port Angeles campus will stand three stories tall.
Once framing begins on the rest of the building, it will grow rapidly, said David Wegener, construction project manager for Peninsula College.
“I’d say in six weeks — even in two weeks — you’ll see a huge change in how all of this looks,” he said.
The college received about $36 million from the state Legislature to fund the construction of the 61,750-square-foot Maier Hall.
The funding was seen by the state Legislature as a priority — a sort of state stimulus — despite deep cuts taken elsewhere to balance the budget.
Peninsula College President Tom Keegan said the college is now looking forward to construction at Fort Worden State Park to expand and improve the Port Townsend campus as well as a new building in Port Angeles for its allied health and early childhood education program.
Those buildings have not yet been funded by the Legislature but are slated for coming years.
The new Maier Hall building will be 36,104 square feet larger than the four buildings it replaces.
The massive foundation hugs several groves of trees wrapping around the northeast edge of campus.
“It was very important to President Keegan to make sure to preserve those trees,” said architect Walter Schacht.
“It turns out it will be really interesting.
“Nearly everyone looking out the windows will have the feeling that they are in one great big treehouse.”
The building rests on a foundation built of recycled materials — in fact about 95 percent of the four old buildings were either recycled into the foundation, given away or sent to a recycling center, said Deb Frazier, vice president for administrative services.
The building will contain what Keegan calls “world class” facilities for students in the fine arts.
Four large kilns for firing pottery as well as several pottery wheels will be available.
Acoustically optimized practice rooms will float on the second floor and other arts and music classrooms will be housed in the building.
Maier Hall — named for E. John Maier, the founding president of Peninsula College, who served from 1961 to 1975 — will replace Buildings F, G, H and I, which were built in the 1960s.
The building also will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards for silver for sure, but the team is “shooting for gold,” Schacht said.
The construction team of Howard S. Wright is the same company that built the Space Needle in Seattle in 1962.
“This is by far the most professional team I have ever worked with,” Keegan said.
It isn’t a typical building for the company, Frazier said.
“We are very lucky to get them,” she said.
“The economy is such that they are keeping their crews busy and in this way it has benefitted colleges like ours.”
A lecture hall that can be used for performances and movies will have “tunable” acoustics to make it conducive to whatever kind of event is happening.
A portion of the roof will be moss-covered to make it more green-friendly.
The moss, developed by Roy Hellwig, the architect for the campus’ Longhouse, is a new process for such a large building.
“If this works well, we might have a new invention on our hands,” Schacht said.
Wegener said that this type of “green” roof was especially nice for maintenance crews because — as opposed to the 16 inches of dirt on the Science and Technology Building’s roof — this one could be rolled back quickly if a leak were to spring up.
“You could just roll it back fix the leak and then roll it back on with hardly any hassle,” he said.
The project will be the latest in the campus building replacements.
“After this is over we’ll be able to really settle in,” Frazier said.
“We’ve been in construction mode for so long that it will be nice to see what we can really do with all of these amazing facilities.”
The Science and Technology Building was built in 2007 and the library and administration building in 2008.
Both are on the community college’s main campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles. Peninsula College also has branch campuses in Forks and Port Townsend.
__________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
