Warren G. Magnuson Health Sciences Building
Encyclopedia
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, Washington and the world's largest single university building with a total floor area of 533000 square metres (5,737,164.3 sq ft). Although the building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
is made up of over 20 wings built over more than 50 years, the interior hallways are fully connected. The Magnuson Health Sciences Building is also referred to as the Health Sciences Center or Health Sciences Complex, but should not be confused with the Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
in Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
which is also named for United States Senator Warren Magnuson.
Uses
Wings denoted by double letters (AA, BB, NN, SP, etc.) house a teaching hospitalTeaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital that provides clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients...
, the University of Washington Medical Center
University of Washington Medical Center
The University of Washington Medical Center is a nationally renowned hospital located along the Montlake Cut and Portage Bay in the University District of Seattle, Washington, USA. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine. UW Medical Center...
. Wings denoted with a single letter (A, B, T, etc.) house a variety of health-related academic disciplines including the University of Washington School of Medicine
University of Washington School of Medicine
The University of Washington School of Medicine is a public medical school located in Seattle, Washington.-Overview:UWSOM is a graduate school affiliated with the University of Washington, and is the only medical school in the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho...
, the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, and the University of Washington School of Public Health. The building has everything from administration offices to wet laboratories to lecture halls.
History
Construction of the original Health Sciences Building began in 1947 on what had been the University Golf Links south of Pacific Street along Portage BayPortage Bay
Portage Bay is an arm of Seattle, Washington's Lake Union and is part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Its western limit can be said to be the Ship Canal Bridge, which carries Interstate 5 over the water; North Passage Point Park and South Passage Point Park sit on opposite shores between the...
. It had 8 wings denoted A through G featuring sculptures by Dudley Pratt
Dudley Pratt
Dudley Pratt was an American sculptor. He was born in Paris to Boston sculptors Bela and Helen Pratt. His sculptural education included study under Charles Grafly, Émile Antoine Bourdelle, and Alexander Archipenko....
and was designed by architecture firm Naramore, Bain, Brady, Johanson, McCellan & Jones (later NBBJ
NBBJ
NBBJ is a global architecture, planning and design firm with offices in Beijing, Boston, Columbus, Dubai, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Shanghai....
). A commemorative plaque inside the original C-Wing lobby notes that it had "about 3,000,000 square feet of space." However, the original architectural design is largely obscured by later additions, particularly the brutalist T-Wing along Pacific St.
The largest single addition to the building was the University Hospital
University of Washington Medical Center
The University of Washington Medical Center is a nationally renowned hospital located along the Montlake Cut and Portage Bay in the University District of Seattle, Washington, USA. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine. UW Medical Center...
in 1959 (previously Harborview Medical Center
Harborview Medical Center
Harborview Medical Center, located on Seattle's First Hill, is a public hospital in King County, Washington and is managed by UW Medicine.-Overview:...
had been the only teaching hospital for the University of Washington School of Medicine
University of Washington School of Medicine
The University of Washington School of Medicine is a public medical school located in Seattle, Washington.-Overview:UWSOM is a graduate school affiliated with the University of Washington, and is the only medical school in the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho...
). The tallest wing in the complex is the 17-story Aagaard Tower (BB-Wing).
See also
- Getting to UW School of Medicine - including Health Sciences complex map
- University of Washington Profile: Health Sciences