Look inside the modern new structure on the Capitol Campus: Irving R. Newhouse Building
Out with the old, in with the new — Irving R. Newhouse Building, that is.
The former 25,084-square-foot Newhouse building that housed offices for state senators and staff, built in 1934, was supposed to be temporary. Instead it served as a workspace, in various government-related capacities, for nearly 90 years. Senate Republicans and staff moved into the building in 1998.
But the two-story structure suffered from safety and healthy hazards. Plus, it was known to get pretty cramped.
That’s why, starting in March 2023, the old Newhouse building was carefully deconstructed. Many of its materials were salvaged for reuse in the modern building that has now taken its place.
At 59,240 square feet and four stories, the new building offers more than double the space. Construction was substantially completed by mid-November with a grand opening in December, just in time for the start of this year’s legislative session.
“The interior and exteriors are very reflective of just neoclassical design principles,” said architect Nick Clesi, project manager at the Seattle-based Miller Hull Partnership, LLC. “So we wanted to bring this building into the current time, but relate it to the history of the rest of the campus.”
Doors run quite tall in the Newhouse building, particularly on the first floor, where they’re 10 feet high — bringing to mind the grand entryways of the Legislative Building. Daylight floods into the modern structure through expansive, floor-to-ceiling windows. Certain marble, glass and wood features hark back to the prior Newhouse and the bygone press houses, residences once occupied by the Capitol press corps that were also deconstructed in 2023.
Thoughtful aesthetic details are present throughout the updated Newhouse. Indigenous artist Ryan!, based in Tacoma, was behind the silhouettes of painted steel creatures that line the building’s exterior walls. These represent the state’s threatened, at-risk and endangered species.
The project’s budget was $94.7 million, its funds coming from the State Building Construction Account, according to the Department of Enterprise Services.
The building is meant to blend with its Capitol Campus surroundings. Its precast-concrete facade, for instance, mirrors the appearance of the local Wilkeson sandstone used in adjacent historic campus buildings — a material that can no longer be sourced, according to a DES fact sheet.
Motifs throughout Newhouse, such as an extrapolated rhododendron pattern representing the Washington state flower, relay a sense of place.
Skylights help brighten the four-story stairwell and central “mixing chamber,” a term coined by the design team. Also a public space, it’s where lawmakers and staff can mingle and have passing coffee conversations.
Architect Japneet Pahwa with Miller Hull Partnership LLC pointed to a feature wall made from salvaged Douglas fir timber. Its pattern changes with each floor, reflecting abstract representations of the state’s diverse landscapes.
The wall’s wood slats still have holes and nails, Pahwa said: marks from history.
“So we actually respected the deformities of these woods,” she said. “All this timber is really old.”
Clesi agreed, referencing the adage, “If walls could talk.”
“This wood came from the press houses, and there were a lot of stories about the campus,” he said. “So having that come back into this building, and then sharing those stories again — and soaking in more stories from all the future people that are going to be in this building — we thought was a really important aspect to the design.”
Sustainability and intentionality were terms that helped steer the direction of the design.
Clesi noted a bench made from a beech tree that was felled as part of the project. The campus horticulturalist wanted to honor the tree that had to be removed for the layout of the parking lot.
In addition, the building was erected to help preserve the massive, roughly century-old Douglas fir tree standing outside to its west.
Students who come to learn about the lawmaking process as part of the Legislature’s Page Program are also stationed in the Newhouse building. Their space boasts modular furniture with fun touches, such as circular pendant-light fixtures. Students’ forest-green jackets peek out from deep closets.
“We wanted this space to feel more welcoming, more celebrated, more playful for students to also like being in this space,” Pahwa said.
Other sustainability features of the Newhouse building include walls that are well-insulated, solar panels and energy-efficient windows. Interior finishes are free of chemicals that appear on the “red list,” such as formaldehyde. The eco-friendly structure is on track to receive a gold “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” rating.
Clesi said he’s heard positive feedback, especially about the feature wall and main stairwell.
“I think a lot of people really enjoy seeing the landscapes in the different forms, seeing the press houses being reused in a different way,” he added, “and just kind of a way to celebrate the history of the campus and the history of the state — all while being in a modern office building.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Look inside the modern new structure on the Capitol Campus: Irving R. Newhouse Building."
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