Firm： Olson Kundig

Type： Commercial › Office Retail Cultural › Cultural Center

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2019

SIZE： 5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

BUDGET： Undisclosed

“The architecture of the Wagner Education Center is intended to be a support vehicle for the repair, restoration and display of boats. It really is a boathouse in the truest sense – it’s about the boats, not about the house.” –Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA, Design Principal

The new Wagner Education Center at the Center for Wooden Boats was carefully sited to fit within the existing park at Lake Union, while also presenting a more visible face to the city beyond. The new building houses a dedicated youth classroom that can be converted to a sail loft in the evening for events; new gallery and exhibit spaces; and a boat shop designed to house the restoration of the museum’s largest boats, as well as the construction of new boats from historic designs. The ultimate goal of the new Center is to engage with a wider audience by revealing the boating artifacts and restoration work within, thereby exposing its wide range of programs to more people than ever before.

The design features a material palette of wood, glass and steel, and just like on a boat, every inch of space and every feature is designed to provide the highest function. The new CWB Wagner Education Center is targeting LEED® Silver Certification.

Project Team: Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA, Design Principal; Steven Rainville, AIA, LEED® AP, Principal; Angus MacGregor, RIBA, LEED® AP BD+C, Project Architect; Derek Santo, Dawn McConaghy, Simon Clews, Architectural Staff; Vikram Sami, AIA, BEMP, LEED® AP, Building Performance; Tom Kundig, Alan Maskin and Angus MacGregor, Hanging Boat Installation; Phil Turner, Gizmo Design

Photographers: Aaron Leitz, Mikel Amias / Olson Kundig