OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Building History

The University of Washington announced on 01/26/2011 that it would supply $5 million to match $10.6 million in private donations made to erect the "House of Knowledge," designed by Seattle architects/landscape architects, Jones and Jones. The State of Washington granted $300,000 in preliminary seed money to start the design process, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation promised a gift of $91,000 in lumber to erect the facility. Lead architect Johnpaul Jones, of Cherokee-Choctaw ancestry, had extensive experience designing Native American cultural facilities; he completed the design for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, as well as longhouse gathering spaces for Native American students at the University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, and at North Idaho College, Coeur d'Alene, ID. Vi Hilbert, an elder with the Upper Skagit Tribe, provided a name in the Lushootseed language that re-named the UW building "Intellectual House." In 01/2011, the Intellectual House was projected to open in 2014.

Building Notes

Arranged in two separate buildings, both spaces would contain 19,000 square feet separated into meeting and classrooms, computer resource room, student lounge, kitchen and office space. According to a UW press release, "The Intellectual House is expected to help UW improve recruitment, retention, and graduation rates for Native students, while honoring the region’s tribes." (See "UW pledges $5 million to help make ‘Intellectual House’ a reality,"UW press release dated 01/26/2011, Accessed 02/03/2011.) Administrators of the UW sited the building in the N6 Parking Lot on the northeast side of campus.

PCAD id: 16095