The new College of Health Sciences Building and Nursing & Health Sciences Hall at the University of California Irvine supports the institution’s goal of becoming a national model for integrative health. The new 211,660-sf facility houses nursing, medical doctorate, pharmacy, philosophy, and public health programs in a single building.
With biophilic elements incorporated throughout the LEED Platinum building and a natural courtyard, students are taught holistic mind, body, and spirit benefits of nature in a medical setting. The building features teaching labs, a simulation center, and dedicated lounge space with access to beautiful outdoor spaces, community spaces, and natural elements.
“These elements come to together to not only improve students’ learning outcomes, but also their health and wellness with access to nature and daylight, chances for building community and interaction between disciplines, and enriching research and learning through exposure to other programs, practitioners, clinicians, and students,” according to a news release.
Notable features of the facility include:
- Stand-alone auditorium and pre-function space acting as a center of activity, a gateway to campus, and a resource for all four UCI Health Sciences and other university events
- Distinct identities/signature spaces associated with each building
- A distinctive dedicated two-story lobby space with a living wall
- A high visibility, dedicated entry for the clinic that builds community among patients and staff and connects treatment functions on both levels
- A “main street” corridor that connects Research Neighborhoods to enhance collaboration, sharing of resources, and scalability
The project was designed according to a “Heart, Home and Integrator approach,” says Martha Ball, Higher Education Sector Leader, HED. “The heart is the dedicated entry and experience of the building that builds a sense of community among patients and clinicians. The home is the lounge that opens to a quiet outdoor area for respite, facilitating individual and group activities and studies. The integrator is the central courtyard with dedicated entry experiences for each program, the auditorium within the courtyard, and the glass bridge that connects the two wings. These come together to create chance encounters of researchers, faculty, clinicians, and administration.”
Bringing together medical programs “creates a premium experience that enhances learning outcomes by educating students beyond traditional lab classrooms,” Ball says. “Students see the benefits of biophilic design and collaborative spaces as patients are healed holistically.”
On the project team:
Owner and/or developer: University of California Irvine
Design architect: HED, teamed with SLAM for interior architecture/planning
Architect of record: HED
MEP engineer: Alvine Engineering
Structural engineer: Saiful Bouquet
General contractor/construction manager: Hathaway Dinwiddie
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Residence hall designed specifically for freshman
Hardin Construction Company's Austin, Texas, office is serving as GC for the $50 million freshman housing complex at the University of Houston. Designed by HADP Architecture, Austin, the seven-story, 300,000-sf facility will be located on the university's central campus and have 1,172 beds, residential advisor offices, a social lounge, a computer lab, multipurpose rooms, a fitness center, and a...
| Aug 11, 2010
University of Florida's traditionally modern graduate building
The University of Florida's Hough Hall Graduate Studies Building was designed by Rowe Architects, Tampa, and Sasaki Associates, Boston, to blend with the school's traditional collegiate gothic architecture outside, but reflect a 21st-century education facility inside. Tallahassee-based Ajax Building Corporation is constructing the $19 million facility, which will have traditional exterior detai...
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction under way on LEED Platinum DOE energy lab
Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction has topped out the $64 million Research Support Facilities, located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Golden, Colo. Designed by RNL and Stantec to achieve LEED Platinum certification and net zero energy performance, the 218,000-sf facility will feature natural ventilation through operable ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Southwest Fisheries Science Center replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement last month with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
| Aug 11, 2010
New Jersey's high-tech landscaping facility
Designed to enhance the use of science and technology in Bergen County Special Services' landscaping programs, the new single-story facility at the technical school's Paramus campus will have 7,950 sf of classroom space, a 1,000-sf greenhouse (able to replicate different environments, such as rainforest, desert, forest, and tundra), and 5,000 sf of outside landscaping and gardening space.
| Aug 11, 2010
Florida International University's cantilevered design
Suffolk Construction's Miami-Dade business unit is serving as GC for the $14 million School of International and Public Affairs building at the University Park Campus of Florida International University. Designed by Arquitectonica, Miami, the five-story, 58,408-sf building will have a café and three auditoriums on the ground level; the largest auditorium will have a 40-foot cantilever abov...
| Aug 11, 2010
Research Facility Breaks the Mold
In the market for state-of-the-art biomedical research space in Boston's Longwood Medical Area? Good news: there are still two floors available in the Center for Life Science | Boston, a multi-tenant, speculative high-rise research building designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, Boston, and developed by Lyme Properties, Hanover, N.
| Aug 11, 2010
Precast All the Way
For years, precast concrete has been viewed as a mass-produced product with no personality or visual appeal—the vanilla of building materials. Thanks to recent technological innovations in precast molds and thin veneers, however, that image is changing. As precast—concrete building components that are poured and molded offsite—continues to develop a vibrant personality all it...
| Aug 11, 2010
Living and Learning Center, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
From its humble beginnings as a tiny pharmaceutical college founded by 14 Boston pharmacists, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences has grown to become the largest school of its kind in the U.S. For more than 175 years, MCPHS operated solely in Boston, on a quaint, 2,500-student campus in the heart of the city's famed Longwood Medical and Academic Area.
| Aug 11, 2010
Giants 300 University Report
University construction spending is 13% higher than a year ago—mostly for residence halls and infrastructure on public campuses—and is expected to slip less than 5% over the next two years. However, the value of starts dropped about 10% in recent months and will not return to the 2007–08 peak for about two years.
