Tioga Library Building Opens

Students arriving for autumn quarter classes at the University of Washington Tacoma last month found a slightly bigger campus with the opening of the new Tioga Library Building.

The new 54,695-square-foot facility provides critical space as the campus grows to more than 4,000 students this year. The new building includes two new classrooms, three floors of space for library and learning resources, staff offices, and two floors of un-programmed space available for future growth. Most of the UW Tacoma Library's collection of approximately 100,000 books is now housed in the new building.

Moving the library's physical collection to the new building allows for remodeling of the existing Snoqualmie Building to create a new learning commons and student study space. That work is expected to be completed in time for the start of winter quarter.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opened the building on Oct. 3.

The site of the Tioga Library Building was originally a feed-and-grain warehouse that burned down in 1933. A one-story cement-block manufacturing building was constructed on the site in 1952. That building was demolished for the new construction. The Tioga Library Building is also connected to the historic Tioga Building next door, which dates to 1890. That building is owned by the university but currently leased as office space to outside groups.

The Tioga Library Building is connected to the Snoqualmie Building — formerly known as the Library Building — by a skybridge over the Northern Pacific railroad tracks that once served these warehouses. Over the next few years, the tracks, part of the Prairie Line segment of the original 19th century transcontinental railroad connecting Tacoma (and Seattle) to the rest of the United States, will be transformed into a bike-and-pedestrian trail through the city that leads to the waterfront. The UW Tacoma section will be the first part of the trail to be developed.

Designed by THA Architecture of Portland, Ore., construction on the Tioga Library Building broke ground in March 2011. The contractor on the project was Korsmo Construction, Inc., of Tacoma.

The university anticipates the project will earn a LEED Gold certification for its sustainable design and construction.