ILF - History of the Annex

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The Learning Factory is housed in the ground floor of Engineering Annex. Over the years the space has been occupied by the UW Foundry, the Mechanical Engineering machine shops, and more recently by the Washington Technology Center. In 1994 the Washington Technology Center moved to Fluke Hall and the space was reassigned to the Mechanical Engineering department to be turned into the Learning Factory.

Engineering Annex 1909

Engineering Annex predates the current Mechanical Engineering Building by about forty-five years, having been built as a support structure for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. The smokestack of one of the power plants that lit the Exposition can be seen in the background among the Douglas firs. After the Exposition, the building reverted to the University of Washington and was known as the UW Foundry.

State-of-the-art mechanical equipment

During the Exposition, the Annex housed exhibits of state-of-the-art mechanical equipment produced by some of the many equipment manufacturers in attendance. One of the emphases of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, particularly the Mechanical exhibits, was the recent boom and potential future growth of the Northwest. This steam-powered electric generator, possibly being marketed for use at a remote logging or mining site, was a display of Murray Iron Works from Burlington, Iowa.

Today, this entrepreneurial "exposition" theme -- the meeting of manufacturers, designers, and customers -- continues to be carried on as engineering students use the space to present and display their industry-sponsored and entrepreneurial design projects each quarter.

Engineering Hall 1909

In 1909, the Foundry's sister building, Engineering Hall, housed the Exposition's "Mechanical" exhibits. In the 1950's, it was replaced by the current Mechanical Engineering Building, which has now occupied the site for as long as Engineering Hall had.

Architecture Hall

Engineering Annex Today

Of the permanent Exposition structures that reverted to UW after the Exposition, only Architecture Hall, Engineering Annex, and a handful of minor structures remain.

Luckily, the Annex survived long enough to make the Learning Factory a good example of adaptive reuse. Timber posts and tall windows create an airy and pleasant work space, unify the labs, and maintain a sense of history amid state-of-the-art facilities.