Hanging Art and Other Objects in the Allen Center

University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering

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In Sieg Hall, we didn't mind very much how you attached things to the walls. In fact, the walls were so ugly anything you did to cover them was a huge plus.

We have many more walls for displaying artwork, photographs, art, etc. in the Allen Center, and we want to do so in a way that creates a pleasant work environment while minimizing the wear and tear on wall surfaces.

We are distinguishing between public spaces (in particular the hallways, but also public parts of the building such as the Atrium, the conference rooms, and the reception area) and personal spaces (in particular offices, whether individual or shared).

Public Spaces

All decisions about hanging art in public places will be under the control of our Art Tsar, Hank Levy. Hey, he helped design a gorgeous building, so we can easily trust him to make sure it is decorated equally tastefully! Over time, he'll develop a process for this, but for the time being "he's the tsar!"

Upon move-in we will not have public bulletin boards, but we are already in the process of ordering them and planning for them to be mounted. This will be the only public place for putting up materials without permission of the Art Tsar; we are likely to define a policy (like the HUB has, for example) for posting on these bulletin boards fairly soon.

Personal Spaces

Hanging art in personal spaces is your own decision, but it's important to follow two basic principles:

only hang things from drywall (“sheetrock”) surfaces, and
use as few holes, and as small holes, as possible to hang the object in a secure and safe way.

Here are a few other hints.

Good fasteners are strongly preferred and will cause minimal damage to drywall: pins, ordinary nails, “bulldog clips”, and any fastener with a smooth, straight surface similar to that of a nail. The department will maintain a supply of these good fasteners in the supply area in the main administrative suite for use by building occupants. Bad fasteners include any mechanical fastener making a hole larger than that of an ordinary nail. This includes but is not limited to expansion screws (“molly bolts”) and toggle bolts. You shouldn't use any hook or hanger that uses any sort of adhesive (peel and stick tape, pressure sensitive tape, double-sided tape, carpet tape, etc) either. The department will drop a neutron bomb on any bad fasteners found in the building.
We recommended that posters be attached to a piece of foam core board before being pinned to a wall in order to minimize the number of fasteners needed to hang the poster.
Nothing should be attached to the wood surfaces in the building in a permanent way. Temporary notices should not be attached with anything more aggressive than the adhesive found in a stickit-note. All other tape adhesives leave a residue on the wood finish and will create permanent damage. Patching holes in the wood trim is extremely costly and difficult, so please refrain from using any fastener that makes a hole in these surfaces.
Notices that need to be placed on doors should be affixed to the glass in the door and not on the wooden surface. There is also a tack board on every door, and you can use pushpins on these.

Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington
Box 352350
Seattle, WA 98195-2350
(206) 543-1695 voice, (206) 543-2969 FAX
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