University of Idaho Campus Photographs Collection

History

The Industrial and Technical Education building was constructed in 1968. The building housed machine shops, classrooms, and teaching spaces. Over the years, the building has facilitated laboratories, offices, and general classrooms. Today, it is called the CLASS Annex, and currently houses the administrative offices for the Auditorium Chamber Music Series and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.

The Forge Theater is also located in the CLASS Annex. This 90-seat, multi-configurable theater space supports rehearsals and productions by performing arts students. The space serves as a theater laboratory, where process is valued over product, and much of the work is original and produced independently by the students.¹ The Alfred W. Bowers Anthropology Laboratory is also housed in the CLASS Annex. The lab was originally located in Archie Phinney Hall but relocated when that building was repurposed for office space. The lab provides students with practical experience in anthropology and archaeology, from artifact analysis to archival research. Programs include educational displays, presentations, volunteering opportunities, and public tours.²

Design

The building was designed by Hummell, Hummell, Jones, and Shawver of Boise, Idaho. It is located at the corner of Railroad Street and Sweet Avenue on the eastern side of the University of Idaho campus. The building reflects a Modernist style, characteristic of mid-20th-century educational architecture, with minimal ornamentation. It has the look and feeling of a mid-century educational facility.

Physical Description

The building is a single-story structure constructed from brick and cement block. The front entrance faces south. The front façade features a low-angle open gable, with windows and entrance doors in the center portion and brickwork on both corners. The east and west sides of the building are made of concrete block and include two horizontal rows of windows running the length of the structure. The north side consists of cement block flanked by brick and includes two sets of double doors. Doors and windows throughout the building are made of metal.

The roof has a very low pitch with an open gable facing both north and south. The building measures approximately 120 feet from east to west and 102 feet from north to south, totaling 12,051 square feet. It is a single-level structure with an estimated peak height of 16 feet. A paved parking and loading area is located on the north side. The remainder of the building is surrounded by trees and lawn.

Alfred W. Bowers

Alfred W. Bowers (1901–1990) was an anthropology professor at the University of Idaho, serving from 1949 to 1967.³ He led research on the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes, conducted archaeological excavations in Idaho and South Dakota, and represented Indigenous communities in federal land claims cases. The university named the Alfred W. Bowers Laboratory of Anthropology in his honor in 1984.⁴

Notes

Images of Industrial and Technical Education Building