Academic Medical

Universities have always been magnets for scholarship, but they increasingly act as magnets for economic development and community-building, as well. This trend has enormous implications for the future of learning, work, and real estate, as academic anchors look to leverage their ideas and the neighborhoods around them to generate entirely new industries and communities. The resulting developments, anchored by deep and diverse talent pools, in turn attract employers who are eager to collocate with universities to tap their resident brainpower.

Augustana College is planning to build the $16 million Austin E. Knowlton Center for Innovation in Health, Wellness and Human Performance in Rock Island, Ill. Accommodating a new program in kinesiology, the hybrid academic and fitness center will offer classrooms, team spaces, faculty offices, a joint resource area, exercise labs, and an aquatic center with a 25-yard pool and a therapeutic pool. Completion is expected in 2020.

Lehigh University is planning to build a $100 million facility for the College of Health in Bethlehem, Pa. Designed by Wilson HGA, the five-story, 190,000-gsf facility will promote interdisciplinary education and research by collocating programs in health, science, and technology. Featuring a transparent design with minimal hard walls, the project will offer open labs and learning studios to enhance collaboration and interaction.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center opened the $22.3 million Academic Classroom Building in Odessa in February of 2019. Designed to promote active learning, the two-story, 51,000-sf facility provides studio classrooms, lecture halls, physical and occupational therapy training labs, research labs, and departmental offices for the schools of medicine, nursing, and health professions.

Leeds Beckett University is building the Carnegie Teaching and Research Building in the United Kingdom. The £45 million project was designed by Sheppard Robson to provide an iconic home for the Carnegie School of Sport. The center will offer sophisticated teaching and research facilities including a hypoxic lab, a health and wellbeing studio, enhanced strength and conditioning spaces, changing rooms, and recovery areas. The roof of the building will accommodate a walking track and a covered 60-meter sprinting track for performance training and analysis.

VCU Health and Children’s Hospital of Richmond will begin construction in spring of 2019 on a $350 million inpatient pediatric hospital in Richmond, Va. Representing the completion of the Children's Pavilion, the 16-story, 500,000-sf facility will provide 86 beds in private rooms with the capacity to expand to over 120 beds in the future. The hospital will also accommodate six observation beds, a hybrid operating room, two general operating rooms, education spaces, and family rooms.

An emerging new model for hybrid translational healthcare facilities combines scientific research with university and professional athletic programs to increase community engagement and student wellbeing. From integrating sports training facilities with medical clinics and applied research, to incorporating fitness gyms, running tracks, and rock-climbing walls into student lounges and public spaces, the combination of athletics and recreation with other programs offers an innovative vision for academic facility design.

Ohio University will begin construction in summer of 2019 on a $65 million academic facility for the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens. Designed by Perkins+Will and DesignGroup, the three-story, 120,000-sf building will provide flexible and collaborative learning environments to support team-based medical education programs. The project includes construction of a fourth-floor mechanical penthouse and renovation of an adjacent building to house administrative offices.

The University of Colorado broke ground in late January of 2019 on the $176 million Anschutz Health Sciences Building in Aurora. Designed by ZGF Architects and Anderson Mason Dale Architects, the seven-story, 390,00-sf facility will provide computational laboratories, classrooms, mental and behavioral health research clinics, a medical simulation training hub, faculty offices, and space for clinical trials.

Stellenbosch University began construction in January of 2019 on the $75 million Biomedical Research Institute in Cape Town, South Africa. Providing leading-edge research facilities for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, the integrated complex will include a bioinformatics hub, a clinical research unit, a biorepository, conference rooms, and labs for proteomics, electron microscopy, and flow cytometry.

Georgia Southern University opened the $23 million Health Professions Academic Building in January of 2019 in Statesboro, Ga. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative to accommodate team-based learning, the technology-rich facility provides advanced simulation training suites, clinical skills labs, and instructional spaces. Illuminated by abundant natural light, the sustainably designed structure features the 8,193-sf St. Joseph’s/Candler Nursing Suite and the Memorial Health Active Learning Studio.

McLaren Health Care broke ground in December of 2018 on a $450 million medical campus in Lansing, Mich. Located in Michigan State University's Corporate Research Park, the project will include a 240-bed acute care hospital, a cancer center, and a medical services building. Designed to promote academic collaboration, the campus will also offer facilities for research, education, and training.

Stanford University is building the Center for Academic Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif. Designed by HOK, the four-story, 170,000-gsf facility will provide consolidated administrative space for clinical faculty, computational researchers, and departmental leadership. The collaborative project will include a conference center, a café, a fitness center, and a three-story, 830-space underground parking structure. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2020. 

Siteman Cancer Center began construction in December of 2018 on a $38 million facility in Shiloh, Ill. The 39,0000-sf project will provide multidisciplinary patient care services including radiation oncology, medical oncology, imaging, pharmacy, and access to therapeutic clinical trials. Located on the campus of Memorial Hospital East, the facility will be housed in a three-story, 70,000-sf structure that will also accommodate an expansion of primary care and women’s health practices. Occupancy is expected in early 2020.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston opened a $15 million facility for the School of Biomedical Informatics in December of 2018. Located in the Texas Medical Center, the two-story, 44,709-sf project is the first freestanding school of biomedical informatics in the United States and was constructed on top of an existing parking garage.