The east campus of Lincoln High School located in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood was originally constructed in 1958 and houses the school’s gymnasium, auditorium, performing arts spaces, and career and technical education (CTE) facilities. In 2016, Seattle voters approved funding for a second phase of work on the campus which focused on seismic and accessibility upgrades to these buildings, about 60,000 SF total.
Mahlum led a student-centered engagement and design process that uncovered significant needs and opportunities across the Phase 2 buildings and program areas. The impact of each code-driven intervention was maximized to bring meaningful change to the educational and communal environments.
Seismic upgrades included the removal of significant areas of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls, installing new shotcrete shear walls supported by micro pile foundations, and adding lateral cross bracing to the existing roof structure. In hand with these upgrades, we were able to enhance the building envelope performance to provide long term durability and energy efficiency and abate areas of the roof that had been previously inaccessible. Material finish and system upgrades followed in these renovated areas, which improved the comfort and quality of these spaces to the benefit of students, staff, and visitors.
Accessibility upgrades included the transformation of the center courtyard to provide accessible routes to the major public gathering spaces: gym and auditorium. Within the buildings, accessible seating, ramps, vestibules, and a new elevator created access to all gathering and learning spaces. To ensure that all students have access to safe and inclusive environments throughout the campus, the previous locker rooms were reimagined into gender-inclusive changing spaces, enhancing privacy and options for all.
Programmatic upgrades were optimized in every area touched by the building system renovations throughout the gymnasium, auditorium, performing arts spaces, and career and technical education facilities. A full renovation of the culinary lab expanded CTE program offerings.
With our general contractor/construction manager (GC/CM) partner, the team developed a detailed phased construction and permitting plan to accelerate completion of the work while minimizing disruptions to students and staff, who continued to learn and teach on-site throughout construction.