Academic Medical

Vanderbilt University will break ground in late spring of 2017 on a $23.6 million expansion of the School of Nursing in Nashville. Designed by Hastings Architecture Associates, the five-story, 30,000-sf addition will provide classrooms, conference and seminar rooms, faculty and administrative offices, and a simulation training lab. The facility will also feature virtual classrooms to support distance learning programs and technology-enhanced instructional spaces to promote interaction and collaboration.

The $295 million Dell Seton Medical Center opened in May of 2017 in Austin, Texas. Designed by HKS and built by JE Dunn, the 517,000-sf teaching hospital accommodates training programs for the University of Texas Dell Medical School and features 13 technology-rich operating rooms and a telemedicine monitoring suite. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the 211-bed facility, which is owned and operated by Seton Healthcare Family, a subsidiary of Ascension Health.

Oklahoma State University is building the $45 million Tandy Medical Academic Building at the OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa. Designed by Dewberry, the 84,000-sf facility will provide advanced simulation training suites including an emergency room, an intensive care unit, a birthing suite, an operating room, and an ambulance bay.

The University of Delaware’s College of Health Sciences encourages businesses and the community to play an active role in the Health Sciences campus, with its focus on translational medicine and utilization of the next generation of classrooms. Kathleen Matt, dean of the College of Heath Sciences, describes these learning spaces as “not a classroom at all. It is interacting in unique ways, in all kinds of environments, that drives the learning process, it drives the outcomes, and it drives the changes.”

The four-story, 93,500- sf Harrell Medical Education Building at the University of Florida (UF) houses teaching and training facilities for the medical education and the physician assistant programs, bringing together a broad variety of program spaces to promote interaction between students and faculty. The design includes an academic tower acting as the iconic gateway feature of the Health Sciences Campus. The building culminates a 10-year commitment to create a new campus on the north side of the medical center.

McNeese State University is building the $41 million Health and Human Performance Complex in Lake Charles, La. Designed by Randy M. Goodloe and Crawford Architects, the 145,000-sf facility will provide six classrooms, 12 faculty offices, a teaching lab, and a sports training center. Ground was broken on the project in early 2017 with completion expected in June of 2018. The general contractor is Alfred Palma. 

The $1.8 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital opened in April of 2017 in Birtinya, Australia. The sustainably designed facility provides 450 inpatient beds with the capacity to expand to over 738 beds in the future. The 1,776,000-sf project houses the Sunshine Coast Health Institute, which includes a 370-seat medical instruction auditorium and a clinical research and education unit.

The University of Glasgow officially opened the £32 million Imaging Centre of Excellence in late March of 2017. Located at the South Glasgow Hospitals campus in Scotland, the facility features a 7-Tesla clinical MRI scanner to support advanced neurological and cardiovascular research. The building also houses neurosurgery operating suites and a biomedical business incubator called the Clinical Innovation Zone. The project was designed by BMJ Architects and built by BAM Construction.

The University of Texas Medical Branch broke ground on the $90 million Health Education Building in Galveston in April of 2017. The five-story, 166,000-sf facility will support collaborative interprofessional education programs with large learning studios, technology-rich labs, flipped classrooms, and simulation training suites. The construction manager-at-risk for the project is Vaughn Construction. Occupancy is expected in spring of 2019.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center officially broke ground in April of 2017 on the $119 million Balbach Global Center for Advanced Interprofessional Learning in Omaha. Serving as the headquarters for the Interprofessional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning (iEXCEL), the four-story, 191,884-sf facility will feature simulation suites and virtual immersive reality environments for medical training. The ground floor of the building will be occupied by the National Center for Health Security and Biopreparedness.

Stockton University is building the $33.2 million Unified Science Center 2 in Galloway, N.J. The three-story, 58,210-sf facility will house teaching and research labs, a vivarium, a gross anatomy lab, a multipurpose room, a greenhouse, and faculty offices. The $15.2 million, 37,720-sf Health Sciences Center is also under construction and will provide simulation suites, an exercise science lab, and space for the sustainability program. Both projects are slated for occupancy in 2018.

The University of Cincinnati Health is building the $60.5 million Gardner Neuroscience Institute in the Corryville area of Cincinnati. The 114,000-sf outpatient facility was designed by Perkins+Will to provide patient-centered neurological and psychiatric care. The four-story project will include an auditorium, a patient lounge, a café, an outdoor rehabilitation area, and an underground parking garage. Ground was broken on the facility in February of 2017 and occupancy is expected in 2019. The construction cost of the building is $26.6 million. 

As part of a master planning initiative, the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia used survey tools to examine how faculty, staff, and students collaborate; how they use the campus; and how University facilities compare to other institutions. More challenging was finding a way to express qualitative data in a quantitative way, and share this data with campus leadership to inform planning and design decisions.

The Medical College of Georgia is engaged in a $62.5 million expansion of its cancer research facilities in Augusta. Designed to promote interaction between clinicians and researchers, the project includes the creation of a three-story facility housing offices and collaboration space connecting the M.

The University of Tampa is planning to construct the 90,000-sf Graduate and Health Studies Building to accommodate programs in nursing and allied health professions. Designed by Beck Architecture and KWJ Architects, the six-story facility will also provide smart classrooms, simulation suites, conference rooms, faculty and administrative offices, health science labs, and study spaces. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the project, which is slated for completion in fall of 2018.