You’ve probably noticed the new building under construction in the center of campus by now. Soon, that will be the W building, a major expansion of Bellevue College’s art program. In the past the arts have been spread thin across campus. Many of the dedicated classrooms were located in the C building, which was built in 1968 and showing its age.
The new building includes many long-awaited improvements. It will include multiple physical-media workshops, including spaces for artforms such as sculpture, woodworking, and metalworking, among others. The RISE MakerSpace, currently located in the B building, will receive a major revamp. Its new location is much closer to classrooms, and will have wide windows, increasing visibility to and from the rest of campus. The new space will include 3D printers, sewing machines, a CNC machine, soldering equipment, and more. A major focus of the project is to increase collaboration between spaces and disciplines.
The building will include covered outdoor seating, a central atrium, and a student art gallery on the second floor. This will bring the total number of galleries on campus to three, complementing the BC gallery space and the newly-moved Bellevue Art Museum, both of which are located in the D building.
The expansion includes benefits for the botany program as well. Space is being cleared for a 3000-square-foot outdoor classroom just north of the parking garage, which will include a community garden and four new greenhouses.
All in all, the W building will be over 56,000 square feet. About half of that is actually a remodel of the old C building, which was torn all the way down to the structure and rebuilt. The building is expected to achieve a LEED© Silver rating, in line with the college’s push for sustainability. Construction began in May 2025, and classes are expected to start in Spring 2027.
