Microsoft Atrium

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Allen Center and EE Building

The Allen Center is a 7-story "L" -- the beige area in the lower portion of the adjacent image. It is connected to the Electrical Engineering Building (the gray area in the upper portion of the image, completed in 1997) by a "light court" -- the Microsoft Atrium. The basement consists entirely of laboratories (including underneath the Atrium). The first floor includes the Atrium and administrative and student services space. The second through sixth floors intermix offices, laboratories, conference rooms, amenity spaces, and services. The sixth floor additionally includes a deck overlooking Lake Washington.

Microsoft Atrium

The tour begins in the Microsoft Atrium, a key architectural and amenity feature of the Allen Center. The slate-covered Atrium floor provides over 5000 square feet of space. During the day, the Atrium is a cafe and meeting place for students and faculty. It is also designed for dinners, conferences or workshops, receptions, and other events. Architecturally, the Atrium connects the Allen Center and the Electrical Engineering Building, whose wall forms the north side of the Atrium. The four skybridges along that north wall connect the far corners of the L-shaped Allen Center. Each skybridge also connects in two places into the EE Building. The open skybridges, the Atrium, the dramatic cantilevered Grand Stair, the north-side "breakout" areas, and the open elevator hallways above the east side of the Atrium all provide opportunities for people to see each other in the building. By design, there are few places to hide!

Providing natural light to occupants was a significant goal of the Allen Center design. One hundred feet above you is the Atrium skylight, which lets daylight into the Atrium and into the interior offices whose windows you see along the south wall of the Atrium. Daylight is visible even in interior labs through hallway windows ("re-lights") in both the Atrium-side offices and the interior labs.

Next: Enter the Computer Science & Engineering administrative suite -- the Washington Research Foundation Suite -- through the large portal at the southeast corner of the Atrium.

	Computer Science & Engineering University of Washington Box 352350 Seattle, WA  98195-2350 (206) 543-1695 voice, (206) 543-2969 FAX [comments to lazowska]