flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

First look: University of Utah's ‘teaching hospital for law’

First look: University of Utah's ‘teaching hospital for law’

University breaks ground on law school building designed to facilitate new approaches to legal education.


By BD+C Editors | June 7, 2013
The University of Utah broke ground today on its cutting-edge College of Law building, which will facilitate new approaches to legal education based on more hands-on learning and skills training.
 
“With this new building, the College of Law will advance its mission to establish a ‘teaching hospital for law’-- an innovative vision for the future of legal education,” said University of Utah President David W. Pershing. “Expanded and improved facilities will enable a variety of educational tracks aimed at improving the human condition, including global justice and the evolving field of biolaw.”
 
Designed by VCBO Architecture (architect of record) and SmithGroupJJR (design architect), the facility will feature a library integrated throughout the building, state-of-the-art training facilities, spaces for collaborative research, advanced but flexible learning technology, practice courtrooms and a top-floor conference center. By providing a wide array of flexible spaces for small group training, the building efficiently provides more space-per-student, bringing it in line with peer institutions.
 
 
 
All images © VCBO/SMITHGROUP JJR Architecture and the College of Law
 
 
 
“This building will fulfill the educational needs of tomorrow’s lawyers while serving the broader Utah legal community and the community at large,” said Bob Adler, interim dean of the S. J. Quinney College of Law. “We are committed to using the facility in ways that will better prepare skilled attorneys and problem-solving leaders.”
 
The College of Law faculty plans to use the new building to expand its already substantial commitment to community service and community-engaged learning. University of Utah law students provided almost 50,000 hours of volunteer pro bono and clinical service during the 2012-13 academic year. The new building will enable the school to continue this tradition by providing facilities for direct client interaction.
 
The new building is designed to achieve LEED platinum certification, the highest designation using Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards and will provide accessibility for a full range of disabilities. Located at the southwest corner of campus across from the Stadium TRAX station, the building will establish a welcoming gateway for visitors to the campus.
 
To date, the building has received generous support from the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney Foundation, the University of Utah, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Alternative Visions Fund of the Chicago Community Trust as well as a growing number of law firms and individual donors.
 
 
 
The $4.5 million donation from the Alternative Visions Fund is dedicated specifically to taking the facility’s sustainable features to the next level. Among the attributes made possible through this donation are an innovative cooling system using groundwater from near the building site, recycling and reuse of building grey water to flush toilets and for other non-potable uses, on-site and off-site solar power generation, electric car charging stations and more.
 
Big-D Construction will begin work on the new, 155,000-square-foot building on June 17, and the building is expected to be ready for the 2015-16 academic year.
 
All plans courtesy VCBO Architecture

Related Stories

| Nov 3, 2010

Virginia biofuel research center moving along

The Sustainable Energy Technology Center has broken ground in October on the Danville, Va., campus of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The 25,000-sf facility will be used to develop enhanced bio-based fuels, and will house research laboratories, support labs, graduate student research space, and faculty offices. Rainwater harvesting, a vegetated roof, low-VOC and recycled materials, photovoltaic panels, high-efficiency plumbing fixtures and water-saving systems, and LED light fixtures will be deployed. Dewberry served as lead architect, with Lord Aeck & Sargent serving as laboratory designer and sustainability consultant. Perigon Engineering consulted on high-bay process labs. New Atlantic Contracting is building the facility.

| Nov 3, 2010

Dining center cooks up LEED Platinum rating

Students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio will be eating in a new LEED Platinum multiuse dining center next fall. The 30,000-sf McDonald Dining Center will have a 700-seat main dining room, a quick-service restaurant, retail space, and multiple areas for students to gather inside and out, including a fire pit and several patios—one of them on the rooftop.

| Nov 2, 2010

11 Tips for Breathing New Life into Old Office Spaces

A slowdown in new construction has firms focusing on office reconstruction and interior renovations. Three experts from Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors offer 11 tips for office renovation success. Tip #1: Check the landscaping.

| Nov 2, 2010

Cypress Siding Helps Nature Center Look its Part

The Trinity River Audubon Center, which sits within a 6,000-acre forest just outside Dallas, utilizes sustainable materials that help the $12.5 million nature center fit its wooded setting and put it on a path to earning LEED Gold.

| Nov 2, 2010

A Look Back at the Navy’s First LEED Gold

Building Design+Construction takes a retrospective tour of a pace-setting LEED project.

| Nov 2, 2010

Wind Power, Windy City-style

Building-integrated wind turbines lend a futuristic look to a parking structure in Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. Only time will tell how much power the wind devices will generate.

| Nov 2, 2010

Energy Analysis No Longer a Luxury

Back in the halcyon days of 2006, energy analysis of building design and performance was a luxury. Sure, many forward-thinking AEC firms ran their designs through services such as Autodesk’s Green Building Studio and IES’s Virtual Environment, and some facility managers used Honeywell’s Energy Manager and other monitoring software. Today, however, knowing exactly how much energy your building will produce and use is survival of the fittest as energy costs and green design requirements demand precision.

| Nov 2, 2010

Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’

Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.

| Nov 2, 2010

Historic changes to commercial building energy codes drive energy efficiency, emissions reductions

Revisions to the commercial section of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)  represent the largest single-step efficiency increase in the history of the national, model energy. The changes mean that new and renovated buildings constructed in jurisdictions that follow the 2012 IECC will use 30% less energy than those built to current standards.

| Nov 1, 2010

Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community

The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category

Great Solutions

41 Great Solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors

AI ChatBots, ambient computing, floating MRIs, low-carbon cement, sunshine on demand, next-generation top-down construction. These and 35 other innovations make up our 2024 Great Solutions Report, which highlights fresh ideas and innovations from leading architecture, engineering, and construction firms.




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021