Center for Urban Waters / Perkins&Will

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Text description provided by the architects. The Center for Urban Waters was envisioned by the City of Tacoma to be a beacon on the water and an example of using building and site sustainable strategies for all future projects in the City. The 51,000 sf, three-story building functions as a shared research facility for City of Tacoma and University of Washington Tacoma to receive and analyze water samples from the waterways of Tacoma and surrounding areas. The building program is comprised of laboratories, offices, conference rooms, a lunch room, an exhibit center, a customer service center at the lobby entrance, and related building services including a mooring facility on the Thea Foss Waterway. The building is sited to optimize views across the waterway toward the city and views toward Mt. Rainier, to maximize public open space, and to provide access to the shoreline esplanade and to on-site parking.