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
Sponsored | Flooring | Dec 7, 2016
Reading Hospital expansion project saves two months in construction schedule thanks to nora nTx
Construction delays are common with projects as large as the $354 million Reading Hospital expansion. Maybe that’s why construction manager Jeff Hutwelker, project executive with LF Driscoll Co., LLC, was so pleased with his nora® experience. By Hutwelker’s estimates, nora nTx saved approximately two months in his construction schedule.
Healthcare Facilities | Nov 30, 2016
Utilizing real estate to build physician networks
How hospitals can partner with their doctors to build an ambulatory network.
Healthcare Facilities | Nov 10, 2016
Prescription for success: Managing technology in the design of healthcare facilities
While the benefits of intelligently deployed technology are abundantly clear to both designers and healthcare end-users, it’s no simple task to manage the integration of technology into a building program.
Public Health Labs | Nov 3, 2016
Cutting-edge microscope facility opens on UMass Medical’s campus
Design and construction met rigorous requirements for sound, vibration, and temperature controls.
Healthcare Facilities | Oct 31, 2016
A world unbuilt: The moral implications of design
The communications challenges don’t even begin to compare to the inherent challenges of designing for a developing nation, writes CannonDesign's Michael McManus.
Sponsored | Healthcare Facilities | Oct 26, 2016
Rx for noise control at Virginia hospital: Large dose of acoustical ceilings
A myriad of acoustical ceiling solutions aid in patient comfort and recuperation.
Sponsored | Healthcare Facilities | Oct 24, 2016
Cyclotron streamlines isotope production
The 70 MeV, 140-ton cyclotron was manufactured by Ion Beam Applications (IBA) in Belgium.
Industry Research | Oct 20, 2016
New book from HDR explores opportunities for how healthcare organizations can reinvent the patient experience
Delta offers a close look at specific activities and behaviors that can help healthcare providers and caregivers discover revolutionary concepts to help them embrace and thrive in the rapid change that surrounds them.
Lighting | Oct 6, 2016
Healthcare systems lighting their way to savings
There has been a rapid improvement and availability of LED products as primary light sources in most healthcare facility applications.
Healthcare Facilities | Sep 28, 2016
Assisted living facility resembles a quaint American neighborhood
The design is not just meant to be aesthetically pleasing, but can also help patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s.