Project category: New construction (completed January 2000)

Chief administrator: Patricia DeLorenzo, Senior Director, (212) 443-1034

Firm: Larsen Shein Ginsberg Snyder, LLP, (212) 803-0300

Design team: Robert G. Larsen, FAIA, Managing Partner; George Shear, Principal-in-Charge (Larsen Shein Ginsberg Snyder, LLP); Wank Adams Slavin Associates; Selnick Harwood Consulting Engineers, PC

Photography: © Barry Halkin 2003

Total building area (GSF): 58,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $198.27

Total cost (excluding land): $11,500,000

This urban university required a facility to house the expanded medical services provided to all students under a new and innovative prepaid university health plan.

A search for appropriate space resulted in a long-term lease for 58,000 square feet in a former loft building at the eastern edge of the campus. University planners requested an environment that would mitigate the tedium and anxiety of the typical diagnostic and/or treatment visit, and would encourage student participation in new health-related programs.

The new center offers, in an aesthetically appealing environment, Primary Care, Emergency and Urgent Care, Physical Therapy, Medical Specialties, Women’s Services, and Medical/Dental Specialty Practice suites, in addition to programs in health education, counseling, and rehabilitation.

Elevators deliver students to spacious reception areas with direct access to each clinical service, and to generously proportioned pedestrian “streets” leading to faculty suites. The clinical environment has been transformed by exploiting soaring floor-to-floor heights and by creating a visual dialog between new construction and the exposed “bones” of the existing loft construction.

Materials and finishes throughout public areas include terrazzo, stainless steel, patterned glass, and dark stained wood, providing a dignified, comfortable and, at the same time, durable environment. Welcoming and ample public spaces, along with well-designed functional areas, instill confidence in the clinical services offered and help to promote student participation in educational/outreach programs.

Skilled medical planning, respect for the existing structure, and carefully detailed new construction have provided an environment to meet current and future campus health-related needs.