The notion of open learning environments in higher education is trending, leading to the design of more collegiate buildings worldwide that are meant to remove barriers between students, faculty and disciplines.
Arizona State University’s Health Futures Center riffs on this popular design and educational idea, aiming to be a connecting place for interdisciplinary innovation, research, and medical simulation. Ground recently was broken on the facility, which is located adjacent to the Mayo Clinic campus, in northeast Phoenix.
The $80 million health care services facility will have a flexible framework, meant to support research and collaboration between the Mayo Clinic and ASU. The 142,000 SF building project’s groundbreaking was in April 2019; it is expected to be completed by late 2020. It is the first building on a new campus for ASU.
The building is meant to bring together the university’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation, College of Health Solutions, and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, together with some shared programs of the Mayo Clinic.
The project was designed by CO Architects and DFDG Architects. CO Architects has expertise in developing such “hybrid” learning environments as is planned for the ASU facility.
“Our goal with ASU’s Health Futures Center is to create opportunities that maximize interdisciplinary collaboration and research in partnership with Mayo Clinic Phoenix, to help meet the mission of improving health outcomes,” says Jennifer Knudsen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal at CO Architects. “Our team designed the building to support a range of evolving interdepartmental research activities, industry partnerships, and teaching models through flexible, innovation-ready spaces.”
The under-construction building’s planned trapezoid façade is meant to decrease glaring from sun exposure on the structure’s east and west sides.
See Also: Sail on, Royal Caribbean: HOK-designed headquarters celebrates cruise ship industry
To speed work on the aggressively scheduled project, the CO/DFDG team collaborated with DPR Constriction’s pre-construction team, by way of the construction Manager at Risk method. The collaboration spawned a predictive cost-analysis tool, helping the project’s stakeholders prioritize needs and wants before the schematic design phase. This approach enabled the teams to design a building that fit needs and desires, and which will be within budget.
Through using Dassault Systemes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, the project’s designers streamlined and simplified the visual representation of the building’s complex geometry, enabling stakeholders to understand the structure’s design benefits.
CO Architects is the design architect, master planner, simulation planner, interior designer and laboratory planner for the building. DFDG is the project’s executive architect. DPR Construction is general contractor, ASE is serving as the structural engineer, Wood Patel is civil engineer, Jeremiah Associates, LLC, is performing AV/IT and acoustical, AEI Affiliated Engineers, Inc. is MEP engineer, and Floor Associates is performing landscape work on the project.
Related Stories
| Apr 4, 2012
HDS designs Mount Auburn Hospital’s new healthcare center in Waltham, Mass.
HDS Architecture provided design services for all the Mount Auburn Healthcare suites including coordination of HVAC and FP engineering.
| Apr 3, 2012
Suffolk completes phase one of Baystate Medical Center expansion
Construction management firm awarded emergency department project for successful build of $296 million MassMutual Wing and Davis Family Heart and Vascular Center.
| Mar 28, 2012
Holden Cancer Center opens at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
The new cancer clinic provides a significant increase in patient space from the prior facility, which was located in an adjacent building.
| Mar 28, 2012
Tsoi/Kobis & Associates developing master plan for UT Southwestern Medical Center
Firm will spearhead strategies for transforming existing in-patient hospital into state-of-the-art ambulatory care facility.
| Mar 26, 2012
Jones Lang LaSalle completes construction of $536M Parkview Regional Medical Center
Hospital ushers in new era of local access to advanced medical treatments in Northeast Indiana.
| Mar 21, 2012
Iowa’s Mercy Medical Center’s new Emergency Department constructed using Lean design
New Emergency Department features a "racetrack" design with a central nurses' station encircled by 19 private patient examination rooms and 2 trauma treatment rooms.
| Mar 19, 2012
HKS Selected for Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie
Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachiewill incorporate advanced technology including telemedicine, digital imaging, remote patient monitoring, electronic medical records and computer patient records.
| Mar 14, 2012
Tsoi/Kobus and Centerbrook to design Jackson Laboratory facility in Farmington, Conn.
Building will house research into personalized, gene-based cancer screening and treatment.
| Mar 6, 2012
Country’s first Green House home for veterans completed
Residences at VA Danville to provide community-centered housing for military veterans.
