Raclin-Carmichael Hall advances healthcare by combining education and research programs in a shared facility designed for collaboration. Adjacent to the University of Notre Dame campus, the new building strengthens a public-private medical education partnership that began in 1968. The Indiana University School of Medicine conducts classes for the first two years of medical school in the facility, which also houses Notre Dame’s W.M. Keck Center for Transgene Research and research space shared by both universities.

Special facilities—such as labs, exam rooms, and a 250-seat auditorium—allow for new areas of research and educational programs that benefit faculty, students, and health professionals.

Raclin-Carmichael Hall has fostered an increased awareness that enhances student recruiting and strengthens interaction with the local healthcare community. The number of physician inquiries to provide volunteer lectures has doubled, and medical student applications at the IU South Bend campus have increased by approximately 75%.

Architectural elements build upon the Notre Dame campus and neighborhood. The building draws from rich, collegiate Gothic precedents to arrange itself around a courtyard, providing natural light to nearly every office and lab within while forming an academic cloister shared by the two universities.

Inside, gracious corridors and meeting rooms encourage encounters between students and researchers, with the idea that collaboration inspires new ways of thinking. Interior design integrates traditional materials, such as wood and terrazzo, with classic design elements, including arches, coffered ceilings, wood paneling, and chandelier lighting.

Project category: New construction (completed September 2005)

Chief administrator: Rudolph M. Navari, MD, PhD, FACP, Professor of Medicine, Assistant Dean and Director, Indiana University School of Medicine– South Bend; Director, Notre Dame Cancer Institute, (574) 631-5574

Firm: BSA LifeStructures, (317) 819-2132

Design team: Geoffrey Lisle, AIA, Principal-in-Charge; Kalevi Huotilainen, AIA, Design Principal; Kay Townsend, Laboratory Designer (BSA LifeStructures); Interior Design, Maregatti Interiors

Photography: MV2 Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 78,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $190

Total construction cost (excluding land): $14,800,000