The Medical Education Building includes a complete renovation of two, four-level historic wings and replacement of an outdated 1970’s-era connector building. The new 5-level construction encompasses 110,000 SF, and the two-building renovation totals 50,000 SF. The building is designed to accommodate a revamped curriculum that fully integrates basic and clinical sciences and new teaching modalities/technologies and that recognizes the emerging importance of translational research, cross-mission building, and inter-professional partnerships. Major elements of the program include three 160-seat lecture halls as well as seminar rooms and instructional spaces for interactive small-group sessions; clinical skills and standardized patient areas; anatomy labs; dissection labs; a morgue; simulation (ER & OR) labs; student services and amenities areas; and the medical school administration offices, including the Dean’s suite. The instructional spaces in the building are designed to respond to constantly evolving pedagogy that is driven by evolving knowledge and technology.
Emory University’s School of Medicine had an aggressive plan to become a top medical school and tasked SLAM with creating a state-of-the-art medical education building to support that goal.
The highly regarded Emory University School of Medicine was housed in a matched pair of small historic original School of Medicine buildings and a ‘70’s era connector building. The structures were inadequate for the School’s current academic program, provided no informal study or interaction space for students and faculty, and could not accommodate the curriculum and pedagogical changes necessary to address the evolving changes in medical science and clinical practice.
The charge to the Design Team was to retain, restore and re-purpose the two historic buildings; to demolish the connector building and replace it with a new, architecturally appropriate structure that would provide the balance of the space required by the 160,000 SF total program; and, in addition: Create an image appropriate to the reputation of the School and its program; Develop a design solution which was architecturally appropriate to the importance of the site and the design guidelines of Emory’s campus plan; Accommodate a totally new curriculum and pedagogy for an expanded class of 150; Incorporate state-of-the-art instructional and medical technologies; Provide a broad range of informal study and activity space for students that would allow the facility to be a figurative HOME for them.
In the 150-year history of Emory’s School of Medicine, there had never been a consolidated facility designed specifically for the needs of medical education. The realization of this project has allowed the university to maintain its flagship program in the heart of its campus.