Project category: New construction (completed September 2004)

Chief administrator: Charles T. Andrews, Vice-President, Space Planning & Construction, (404) 727-5669

Firm: The S/L/A/M Collaborative, (860) 659-1010

Design team: Joseph C. League, Jr., AIA, Principal-in-Charge; Sidney Ward, AIA, Project Manager; Robert F. Pulito, AIA, Lab Designer; Bill Stelton, Project Designer; Terri LaRose Frink, IIDA, Interior Designer

Photography: Woodruff-Brown Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 155,000 (including mechanical space)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $213

Total construction cost (excluding land): $33,000,000

The new, 140,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Pediatrics Building at Emory University reflects the stature of the university’s pediatrics program, as well as the architectural character of the Emory campus. It houses more than 140 faculty researchers and clinicians and replaces several smaller, outmoded buildings, making way for the expansion of the adjacent children’s hospital. By colocating clinical and research functions under one roof, Emory has positioned itself to recruit from among the best and brightest, many of whom seek both a clinical and research practice.

The first floor is dedicated to clinical uses, containing 31 exam rooms, configured in seven pods of four and one pod of three, with separate waiting rooms. Designed to humanize the experience of care for young patients and their families, these areas are family-oriented, friendly, modern, and efficient—resembling private doctors’ offices rather than a large public clinic. Among the 16 clinical subspecialties are otolaryngology, neurosurgery, cardiology, and human genetics.

The second floor is devoted to research and office space for pediatrics faculty who previously were scattered across the campus. The third, fourth, and fifth floors are exclusively reserved for laboratory research, while the basement level houses mechanical equipment and supplies for the research laboratories.

Among the project’s notable achievements was its fast-track development, which allowed it to be planned, designed, constructed, and occupied within 20 months. In addition, the project incorporates LEED green-building principles and was designed with the same environmentally friendly features that have won LEED certification for several other buildings at Emory.