Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute is remodeling and expanding its student dining facilities in a $1.5 million construction project, says R. Joe Alleman, the institute’s director of administration.

Yost, Mooney & Pugh Contractors Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project, and MMEC Architecture & Interiors, also of Spokane, designed it.

The project includes remodeling 2,400 square feet of main-floor dining space, demolishing a 1,500-square-foot addition that was erected in 1994, and constructing 4,100 square feet of new space, says Craig Conrad, the project architect.

The new space also will replace a 2,400-square-foot basement dining area that will no longer be used, Conrad says.

Although the dining hall will have a net increase of 200 square feet of space, Alleman says the project will reconfigure the dining area so all students can dine on the main floor.

The 6,500-square-foot dining facility will have views of the surrounding pine forest, and a 600-square-foot mezzanine level will enable students to view the Spokane River, he says.

About 250 students from Mukogawa Women’s University attend courses at Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute each spring and fall semester, Alleman says. The students also live and dine on the campus.

Mukogawa Women’s University, a private university with 7,000 students, is based in Spokane’s sister city Nishinomiya, Japan. 

Conrad says the dining hall at the institute is part of a 31,000-square-foot commons complex that was designed in 1962 by Henry Bertelsen, the long-time assistant to famed Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter.

The project will complement the original architecture with glass elements in the new entry portal, tall brick-framed windows, and design features that harken to the original architecture, Conrad says.

Alleman says the dining hall also will provide the Spokane community with a new venue with a seating capacity of 350 people. The venue will be available to rent for events during the summer, when only about 50 students are on campus, he says.

The project is scheduled to be completed in August, and Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute is planning an open house in September as part of the 25th anniversary of the university’s Spokane campus.