University of Washington Tacoma

New User-Friendly Furnishings Support Students and Wider Community

The University of Washington Tacoma partnered with the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap counties to create the University Y Student Center, which is not only a comprehensive student center, but also a recreational facility, conference center, and community center. The center includes student lounge and social areas, event and student organization spaces, fitness areas, an NCAA regulation gymnasium, an indoor track, and locker rooms.

UWT students and YMCA members use the center extensively, so durable furniture was an important requirement. All areas of the new building needed to be user friendly, functional, and ideal for gathering and community use. The university asked that furniture accents match their school colors, plus the entire project had to stay within budget. The versatility of KI furniture was the key to satisfying this need for functionality and affordability. Plus, KI offered upholstery colors that complement UWT’s school colors. Dynamic lounge and social areas feature MyWay, Sela, and Hub seating. Open office spaces are designed for collaboration with Connection Zone benching, storage, and mobile, dry-erase screens. Learning spaces adapt to multiple purposes with a variety of KI tables and seating.

Ross Johnson, Space Planning Manager of UWT stated, “With KI, we were able to turn the process over to them and basically tell them what we were trying to accomplish, and have them come back to us with multiple solutions that meet our performance and budget requirements.”