The Warren G. Magnuson Health Sciences Center is part of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

in Seattle and the world's largest single university building with a total floor area of . Although the

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fu ...

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 Building or Health Sciences Complex.

Uses

Wings denoted by double letters (AA, BB, NN, SP, etc.) house a

teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...

, the

University of Washington Medical Center The University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) is a hospital in the University District of Seattle, Washington. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine.And is located in the War ...

. 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 Dentistry The University of Washington School of Dentistry is the dental school of the University of Washington. It is located in Seattle, and is the only school of dentistry in the state of Washington. The school emphasizes research in anxiety, orofacial pa ...

, the

University of Washington School of Medicine The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Grad ...

, the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, the University of Washington School of Public Health, and the

University of Washington School of Nursing The School of Nursing is part of the University of Washington (UW). It offers five degree programs accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education: one bachelors, two masters and two doctoral. As of February 2014, there are "128 tenure ...

. 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 Bay Portage Bay is a body of water, often thought of as the eastern arm of Lake Union, that forms a part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle, Washington. To the east, Portage Bay is connected with Union Bay—a part of Lake Washington— ...

. It had 8 wings denoted A through G featuring sculptures by

Dudley Pratt Dudley Pratt (June 14, 1897 – November 18, 1975) was an American sculptor. He was born in Paris, France to Boston sculptors Bela and Helen Pratt. His sculptural education included study under Charles Grafly, Antoine Bourdelle, and Alexander ...

and was designed by architecture firm Naramore, Bain, Brady, Johanson, McCellan & Jones (later

NBBJ NBBJ is an American global architecture, planning and design firm with offices in Boston, Columbus, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Pune, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C.. NBBJ provides services in arch ...

). 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 in 1959 (previously

Harborview Medical Center Harborview Medical Center is a public hospital located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is managed by UW Medicine. Overview Harborview Medical Center is the designated Disaster Control Hospital for Seat ...

had been the only teaching hospital for the

). The tallest wing in the complex is the 17-story Aagaard Tower (BB-Wing). The building takes its name from U.S. Senator Warren G. Magnuson, who graduated from the University of Washington in 1929.

References

{{University of Washington University of Washington campus University and college academic buildings in the United States