Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth

The Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth (CDHY) is Washington state’s only residential American Sign Language (ASL) – English bilingual school for deaf and hard of hearing students. The project includes a new 35,000 sf Divine Academic Hall (with administration, project-based learning embedded classrooms for grades K-12, and a library media center), 16,250 sf Hunter Gymnasium, outdoor fields, playground and parking areas.

Mass Timber Research and Implementation

Divine Academic Hall incorporates glue-laminated wood for columns and beams, as well as three-ply cross-laminated (CLT) timber for the roof structure and floors, informed by Mithun’s Building Better Schools R+D study. The system is cost competitive with more traditional building systems, and results in a ratio of less than .50 cubic feet of wood fiber per gross square foot of building area (which is below industry standard).

Deaf-led Design Process

The Skanska | Mithun progressive design-build team, along with DeafSpace consultants Robert T. Sirvage and Hansel Bauman, worked collaboratively with CDHY, Washington Department of Enterprise Services (DES) staff and students to incorporate DeafSpace principles as part of a deaf-led design process. Through this process, the mass timber design was optimized to bring biophilic benefits to student well-being and learning outcomes, and make the most of acoustic vibrations to extend occupants’ sensory reach (Deaf people “read” the activities in their surroundings that may not be immediately apparent to many hearing people through an acute sensitivity of visual and tactile cues).