Western Washington University Wilson Library

library renovation in Bellingham

Western Washington University Wilson Library

Bellingham, WA

The 6th floor of the WWU Wilson Library was reconfigured to house the Special Collections department. Originally used as student study areas, stack areas and meeting rooms, the new program reassigned these areas and added  1,850-square-feet. The new roof structure was a steel roof deck over structural steel framing supported on new steel columns at the interior and on existing concrete walls, beams and columns at the exterior. To minimize the need to reinforce the existing structure for new roof loads, new columns were aligned with existing concrete columns where possible. New walls within the enclosed area are light gauge steel framed walls with aluminum storefront and curtain wall glazing systems.