The University of Puget Sound celebrated the grand opening of the William T. and Gail Weyerhaeuser Center for Health Sciences building by holding a dedication ceremony on Oct. 28.

The $21 million, 42,500-square-foot hall, equipped with state-of-the-art technology and designed to encourage collaboration across the sciences, was designed by Peter Bohlin, of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, and brings together students and professors from Puget Sound’s graduate clinical programs in physical therapy and occupational therapy, with those in the undergraduate disciplines of exercise science and psychology, as well as the interdisciplinary neuroscience program.

Weyerhaeuser Hall is located at the south end of campus on North 11th Street, across from Memorial Fieldhouse. The building includes four levels and a three-story grand atrium, totaling 42,500 square feet in size; outdoor mobility park with curbs, ramps, and stairs for clinic patient therapy work; six laboratories, including: motion analysis, animal learning, wet lab and surgery, exercise physiology, observation, and a computer–based research suite; six clinics, including a model “apartment” for patients to practice indoor living skills; classrooms, faculty offices, computer labs, and meeting rooms; geothermal heating, including 32 miles of tubes under the floors; and “universal design” of doors, sinks, and counters, to accommodate people with special needs.

Architects Bohlin Cywinski Jackson of Seattle went to great lengths to preserve the Tudor-Gothic beauty of the Puget Sound campus in a modern building while designing Weyerhaeuser Hall to meet or exceed LEED Silver standards. They drove to a Mount Rainier quarry to pick out local Wilkeson sandstone, created simple gable roof forms and projecting bay windows, and positioned the building site to preserve a grove of trees. They also created two grand entrances, east and west, on two levels, so that public clients can conveniently park near one door and retain their privacy, while students enter through the other door, in a setting of fir trees, walkways, and green landscaping.

“Weyerhaeuser Hall provides our students and professors with a fresh, inspiring, and highly creative environment in which to continue their pursuit of rigorous academic study and groundbreaking research in the health and behavioral sciences,” said President Ronald R. Thomas.

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University of Puget Sound Weyerhaeuser Hall grand opening ceremony Oct. 28 (10/21/11) — http://www.tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=88&cat=23&id=2056581&more=0

Weyerhaeuser Hall opens on University of Puget Sound campus (08/30/11) — http://tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=88&cat=23&id=2028992&more=0

University of Puget Sound $22M health sciences center will be named Weyerhaeuser Hall (05/26/11) — http://tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=88&cat=23&id=1981514&more=0