Photo By Joseph Siemandel | Outside view of the Thurston County Readiness Center in Tumwater, Wash. on Nov. 10,...... read more read more
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Nestled in a quiet neighborhood in the woods of Tumwater, the new Thurston County Readiness Center awaits its big debut to the soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery.
“This is a remarkable building, it will be a real gem for the field artillery battalion,” said Adam Iwaszuk, director of the Construction and Facilities Management Office. “The unit is going into the best building that we have put together.”
Breaking ground in October 2018, the more than 83,000 square foot readiness center provides a much-needed upgrade in the south Puget Sound region, replacing the 80-year-old Olympia Armory and the small, outdated Puyallup Armory.
“This facility will provide the unit with the most up to date facility with multiple training areas, maintenance bays, ample parking, tons of storage, a 6,400 square foot drill floor, a state of the art kitchen and tons of areas for collaboration and building comradery among the soldiers,” said Iwaszuk.
When Schreiber, Starling and Whitehead Architect firm was awarded the project, they got right to work on the design. The Seattle based firm has been a part of multiple projects for the Washington National Guard, including the Aviation Readiness Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the Bremerton Readiness Center, Yakima Readiness Center and a National Guard facility on the Yakima Training Center.
“I got into this project in February of 2016, right as the project really got started,” said Monica Verastegui, the lead architect for the Thurston County Readiness Center project. “When we started with schematic design, we had like 20 different foot prints, but thanks to some information provided by the Military Department of what they were thinking, we adjusted our thinking and came up with what was best for the units.”
After years of planning, designing, re-designing and construction, the newest readiness center in the Washington National Guard’s portfolio is almost ready to open its doors.
“As you open the doors, it leads you into this grand foyer, where our soldiers will be able to come into this naturally lit area with plenty of space,” said Iwaszuk. “Every detail we put into this facility was to better the soldier’s experience.”
With a large drill floor, multiple classrooms, a multi-purpose room, huge storage areas, fitness room, family readiness offices and an ID card facility just on the first floor, it would be easy to forget that the building has a second floor. The upstairs provides more classrooms, office space, common areas, outside patio seating and a regimental room for the battalion leadership. One of the greatest features of the building is all of the natural lighting and open office set up to allow both privacy and collaboration. During the design process soldiers from the battalion joined the architects to design a building that met the overall needs of the Guard and the soldiers.
“We did extensive studies on natural lighting, wall color, and chose the furniture that would provide the work stations with ample space and privacy,” said Verastegui. “We also took the unit’s recommendations during the meeting we had with them and implemented the suggestions.”
Every decision made about the facility had two things in mind: making the soldiers experience the best it can be and ensuring the building is welcoming to community members.
“It goes back to our idea of improving the experience for the individual soldier and how they would be using the building. We took suggestions, like having wash racks in the personal equipment rooms so they could clean their gear before putting it away, it was what will work best for the soldiers,” said Verastegui “We also looked at the area, we are in a residential area, there is a school nearby and this is a shared community space, we wanted it to be a space for the soldiers but welcoming to the community.”
The Thurston County facility will be the fourth new readiness center to open since 2010, and is the first of three current projects to wrap up. A new armory in Richland and barracks at the Yakima Training Center are in various phases of completion. On average a military construction project can take anywhere from seven to 10 years to be approved and constructed.
“In reality only 12 projects get selected every year by the National Guard Bureau, and you have 54 states and territories competing for 12 spots,” said Iwaszuk. “Our greatest accomplishment is having five military construction projects in the last 11 years awarded in the year of appropriation. When I share that with NGB, they agree no one else can say that in the nation.”
| Date Taken: | 11.18.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 11.18.2021 10:37 |
| Story ID: | 409569 |
| Location: | TUMWATER, WASHINGTON, US |
| Hometown: | TUMWATER, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 804 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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