William H. Gates Hall is an academic building 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 Seattle a ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. William H. Gates Hall houses the

University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington. The 2023 '' U.S. News & World Report'' law school rankings place Washingt ...

. The building is named after late

William H. Gates, Sr. William Henry Gates II (November 30, 1925September 14, 2020), better known as Bill Gates Sr., was an American attorney, philanthropist, and civic leader. He was the founder of the law firm Shidler McBroom & Gates (a predecessor of K&L Gates), ...

, a lawyer who served as a partner of the Preston Gates & Ellis law firm.William H. Gates Hall
" ''

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce The ''Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce'' is a daily (six days per week) newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Specializing in business, construction, real estate, and legal news and public notices, it began publication in 1895 as the ''Bullet ...

''. Retrieved on Friday March 2, 2012. "Amenities: Students have access to a 28-person computer lab on the second floor," Gates was a 1950 graduate of the UW School of Law.Dwyer, William L. ''Ipse Dixit: How the World Looks to a Federal Judge''.

University of Washington Press The University of Washington Press is an American academic publishing house. The organization is a division of the University of Washington, based in Seattle. Although the division functions autonomously, they have worked to assist the universit ...

, 2007
17
Retrieved from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

on March 2, 2012. , .

History

Conception and planning

Before the construction of Gates Hall, the

, the only public law school in the State of Washington,Goldsmith, Steven.
Groundbreaking slated for William H. Gates Hall
" ''

''. May 3, 2001. Retrieved on March 2, 2012. occupied Condon Hall, located away from the main campus of UW. The building never expanded, so as the UW School of Law grew, various departments of the law school were forced to occupy other buildings.Olson, Sherri. "On Architecture: UW's William H. Gates Hall projects a spirit of welcome openness." ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

''. Sunday November 9, 2003
1
Retrieved on March 2, 2012. The

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senat ...

, on two occasions, failed to provide the funds to expand the Condon building. At a later point the university decided that it could build a new administrative services building and then store extra administrative services that were previously spread across the university campus at Condon Hall. The university would use the cost savings to allow it to build a new law school.King, Marsha.
Objections Raised Over Plan For New UW Law School
" ''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...

''. Thursday April 4, 1996. Retrieved on March 3, 2012. In 1993 the

gave the university funds to design a new law building. After university officials began a search for potential donors, William Henry "Bill Gates III offered to be a donor. He was interested in naming a building after his father William Henry Gates, Sr. In 1995 the state legislature approved the building of a new law facility. The state legislature approved a funding for $1.1 million for the building design. It was conditional on the University being able to, by July 1, 1997, raise $10 million from private sources. Around 1996, when the project had conditional funding but no final approval, several critics, including academics and

University District University District can refer to a location in the United States: *University District, Detroit, Michigan * University District, Columbus, Ohio *University District, San Bernardino, California *University District, Seattle The University District ...

residents opposed the proposed building plan, arguing that UW was breaking its agreement with the city over how the UW campus should be developed, that it would remove one of the few remaining open spaces on campus, that it was a bad spending of educational dollars during a budget crisis, and that the project was "leapfrogged" over higher priority projects. The university originally planned to construct a replacement law facility on Parrington Green, but after outcry that lead to almost 600 e-mail messages expressing disfavor with the plan being sent during the first twelve days of February 1996, an administration committee revealed a revised plan that would reduce the building's footprint by about a third of the original plan, saving more of the park. The university later changed the location to the N1 Parking Lot,Lehrke, Dylan Lee.
Law School To Graduate Into New Building
" ''

The Daily of the University of Washington ''The Daily of the University of Washington'', usually referred to in Seattle simply as ''The Daily'', is the student newspaper of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is staffed entirely by University of Washington studen ...

''. May 4, 2001. Retrieved on March 2, 2012. near the Burke Museum. This decision prevented the destruction of a group of trees, and in the words of Sherri Olson of the ''

'', "define a new quad." In 1999 the legislature approved the funding of the construction of the facility.New Law School Building
"

. August 30, 1999. Retrieved on March 2, 2012. The replacement law school facility was approved so the law school could again occupy a central location in the UW campus.

Funding

The state funded the construction with $44.2 million of money from bond sales and $1.5 million of funds directly from the state, while $34.3 million came from private donations.Rivera, Ray.
New law school wows UW grad it's named for
" ''

''. Friday September 12, 2003. Retrieved on March 3, 2012. The

stated that it was "an exceptionally large share for a public building." The state bond money would be repaid by the university's

Metropolitan Tract The Metropolitan Tract is an area of land in downtown Seattle owned by the University of Washington.Law School Returns to Heart of Campus in William H. Gates Hall
" '' The University of Washington Alumni Magazine''. June 2001. Retrieved on March 2, 2012. More than 160 donors contributed to the building.

's son, William Henry "Bill" Gates III, and his wife Melinda Gates, under the Gates Foundation, donated $12 million to the UW School of Law. The Gates couple was the largest private donor to the William H. Gates Hall project. The donations ranged from $50 to the Gates Foundation's $12 million.

Construction and opening

Kohn Pedersen Fox Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architecture firm that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. KPF is one of the largest architecture firms in ...

, an architecture firm in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, collaborated with Mahlum Architects on the design of the building. Lease Crutcher Lewis of Seattle served as the general contractor-construction manager. Gates Hall was built and constructed for $80 million. The cost included fiber optics and furniture. Its groundbreaking occurred on May 4, 2001. The individuals presiding over the ceremony, which took place at the future law school site, included Richard McCormick, President of UW, and Roland Hjorth, the then-outgoing dean of the UW Law School. Visitors included Bill Gates, former

U.S. Speaker of the House The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U. ...

Tom Foley Thomas Stephen Foley (March 6, 1929 – October 18, 2013) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995. A member of the Democratic Party, Foley represent ...

, Governor of Washington

Gary Locke Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician and diplomat serving as the interim president of Bellevue College, the largest of the institutions that make up the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system. Locke serv ...

, and Dr. Joe Knight Jr., the appointed future dean of the UW School of Law. Its public opening and dedication occurred on September 12, 2003. Upon completion of the building, the school of law moved from Condon Hall to William H. Gates Hall. All of the departments of the law school moved to Gates Hall, allowing for the entirety of the law school to occupy one building. The building was planned to be one thirds larger than Condon Hall, and it has 55% more space than the previous facility.Burgess, Andrew.
Law School On Schedule, Under Budget
" ''

''. Friday November 1, 2002. Retrieved on March 3, 2012. The opening of the William H. Gates building also allowed the law school department to increase in size. In 2001, when the school was still based in Condon Hall, the law school was annually receiving at least 1,500 applicants for 165 slots.

Location

It at the northwestern corner of the University of Washington campus,Dudley, Brier.
What to show the relatives who want to meet that Gates fellow
" ''

''. Thursday June 9, 2005. Retrieved on March 2, 2012. near the historic campus core. William H. Gates Hall is located south of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, and north of Parrington Green. The facility is between 15th Avenue Northeast and Memorial Way. Gates Hall, located in the center of the

, is off of "The Ave" and north of

Downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

. It is in proximity to the legal community of Seattle and various university student life facilities. Paula Littlewood, the

assistant dean, said in 2001 that the central location of Gates Hall would enhance the law school's collaboration with other UW academic programs, and increase the ability of students and faculty to work together. Sherri Olson of the ''

'' said that William H. Gates "creates a stronger presence for the UW on the northwest corner of the campus and a more formal entrance along 15th."

Architecture

The building, which has of space, is made of brick and glass. The building has around 135,000 bricks and of glass. The building has four elevator shafts. The main portion of the building is "L" shaped, and it borders the library on its north and west sides. Sheri Olson, an architecture critic of the ''

'', said that "While the taut expanses of brick and metal detailing are modern, the architects use classic elements of composition," such as the building's inverted metal roof, which creates a "crisp cornice line," a "rusticated brick base," a group of triangular, narrow bay windows that are three stories tall, and a midsection that uses a series of windows and alternating projections of brick used to express a pattern and texture. Olson said that the building's series of narrow, three-story tall, triangular bay windows "are a nod to the verticality of the campus's

Collegiate Gothic style Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...

established by the early Bebb & Gould buildings." Olson argued that Kohn Pederson Fox "were neither blindly modern nor overly historicist in the design of the building's main facades on the west and north." The building has white-colored walls that have some

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

accents, instead of using the more classic dark wood panels. Olson said that the walls "create a Scandinavian modern sensibility appropriate to our northern climate where early dusk and overcast skies can be depressing for students who spend a lot of time indoors studying." In regards to the choice to not use wood panels, Olson said that the choice "may strike some as not traditional enough but may be one way for the school to distance itself from the entitled, cigar-smoking old-boys club."

Facilities

The building's first two floors have various classrooms. One 170-seat classroom is a mock trial hall. A 28-person computer lab is on the building's second floor, adjacent to the offices of the Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts. The building also houses twelve study rooms, a remote learning laboratory, a coffee shop and snack kiosk,University of Washington School of Law
"

Law School Admission Council The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) is a nonprofit organization whose members include more than 200 law schools throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. Its headquarters are in Newtown, Pennsylvania (about 15 miles north of Phil ...

. Retrieved on March 3, 2012. a student lounge, faculty offices, student organization offices, private zones for nursing mothers, female and coed toilets, lockers, and shower facilities for people who commute by bicycle. The facility has features for disabled people, including

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

indicators. The student commons is located on the main level, in the crook of the "L". William H. Gates also houses a " crying room", a facility for parents so that they can bring their children to their classes and still fully participate in them. The parents may watch lectures on video screens provided in the room while their children accompany them in the "crying room." Katherine Long of the ''

'' said that it is "sort of like a movie theater's crying room."Long, Katherine.
UW students bring kids to classes, seek child-care help
" ''

''. Monday May 9, 2011. Retrieved on March 3, 2012. Sarah Renevald, the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) at UW, said in 2011 that the UW law school used the "crying room" as a recruitment tool to promote an atmosphere that is favorable towards families, which attracts students and professors to the program. The school facilities had contemporary technology, including high speed internet access, computerized podiums that had DVD,

Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired PowerPoi ...

, and internet features. Every classroom has central computers which have projection options. Each classroom seat has electrical outlets and data ports for laptops. The university has a large outdoor When the facility opened, wireless internet was installed inside the facility and at the terrace on top of the library. The L1 level houses the

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

suites, such as the Lowery C. Mounger, Jr. '' Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal'' Suite (Room L180-183) and the Preston Gates & Ellis '' Washington Law Review'' Suite (Room L180, L184-L188). Because Ronald Hjorth, the law school's dean emeritus and a professor, and Richard O. Kummert, a professor, donated funds to have the center built, they have classrooms in the building named after them.

Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library

William H. Gates Hall includes the Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library on the L1 and L2 floors, at a below grade level. It is named after Marian Gould Gallagher, who served as the director of the law library of the

. As of May 2003 the body of books held by the Gallagher law library, then in a different building, was the largest law library collection north of

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

and west of

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. The Gallagher Law Library has of library stacks, a reading room, staff spaces, and study rooms.Olson, Sherri. "On Architecture: UW's William H. Gates Hall projects a spirit of welcome openness." ''

''. Sunday November 9, 2003
2
Retrieved on March 2, 2012. The top level of the library is an outdoor terrace that has views of the Seattle skyline. Plant life is incorporated in the terrace's design. Four trapezoidal-shaped, -tall skylights descent from the terrace into the reading room. The skylights center on an opening that connects levels L1 and L2, so the light affects the reading room and the stacks below. The library was designed to be compliant with the

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 19 ...

. It had room to allow for additions to book collections and student workspaces. Most of the library collections are open stack. The library's computer terminals are near the entrance, so library patrons may easily access the computers. The library also houses a student-only lounge. The law library has one entrance, allowing for easy security and allowing for the majority of the library to use open book stacks. All library patrons, including faculty and staff, use this entrance.''The future of law libraries: selected articles from a symposium on the impact of technology on law libraries and law classrooms of the future, March 10–11, 2005, Amelia Island, Florida''. Authors: West (Firm), Florida Coastal School of Law, InfiLaw System (Consortium). West, 2006.
48
Retrieved from

on March 2, 2012. " ..he law library has one entrance and exit for all library users, including faculty."

Reception to architecture

Sherri Olson, an architecture critic of the ''

'', said that the building "has wings that reach out, projecting a spirit of openness and inclusiveness." She commented that "At 196,000-square feet, it's a big building, but the design mitigates its bulk." She concluded "Is it too much to ask a building to inspire a greater sense of social and civic responsibility? Perhaps, but as in the case of Gates Hall, it can at least abet and abate." The namesake of the building,

, had a positive reception to the facility.

References

External links

William H. Gates Hall
"

.
William H. Gates Hall
"

Emporis Emporis GmbH was a real estate data mining company that was headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company collected data and photographs of buildings worldwide, which were published in an online database from 2000 to September 2022. On 12 Sept ...

.
University of Washington, Seattle, Gates, William H., Hall, Seattle, WA
" Pacific Coast Architecture Database
New Law School Building
"

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