The Newhouse Replacement Building is featured in the March Civic issue of Architectural Record.

Located on the Washington State Capitol Campus, the new Irving R. Newhouse Building honors the campus’s neoclassical legacy while advancing high-performance sustainability for the State of Washington.

The project presented an opportunity where thoughtful collaboration leads to material choices that elevate the design. The team first explored an all–mass timber structure, drawn to its warmth and clarity. But in a high-seismic region with blast protection requirements, the team reshaped the approach. As Lund Opsahl Principal Tony Mason noted, fully timber perimeter beams would have required encasement—resulting in “additional cost without programmatic or architectural gain.”

The solution: a hybrid system of steel and exposed DLT. Resilient, expressive, and efficient, this system delivers structural integrity and preserves the warmth of timber.

Part of the Legislative Campus Modernization program, the LEED Platinum, net-zero–ready building replaces a seismically deficient 1934 structure. It integrates salvaged materials, locally sourced mass timber, and high-performance systems to create a civic workplace serving legislators, staff, students, and the broader community.

Read the article in the March 2026 issue of Architectural Record.