International design, architecture and planning firm Perkins Eastman recently joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dignitaries from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, for the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the new, ground-up AIIMS Nagpur campus.

The 150-acre campus comprises healthcare, academic and residential zones to create a holistic environment. Perkins Eastman, together with the India firm Edifice Consultants, is designing the entire development, estimated for completion in 2020.

AIIMS is a group of autonomous medical institutes of higher education that currently has seven functioning campuses throughout the country. The Nagpur campus will be located in the MIHAN (Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur) project, establishing the first AIIMS presence in Maharashtra, India’s second-most populous state. The mixed-use healthcare campus and its care facilities are being designed to eventually serve a population of 36.5 million from the Maharashtra’s eastern and southern regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada, respectively.

The Nagpur campus will comprise a mix of uses and building types, including new healthcare, academic and residential complexes, knit together by comprehensive landscaping—including an orange grove—and infrastructure, along with carefully considered transit and pedestrian circulation plans. The development vision for the entire campus and its sub-components will be carried out simultaneously.

In order to accommodate the future growth and expansion needs of the campus, the formal planning approach utilizes geometric concepts of flexibility and modularity. The main component of the campus is the medical zone, which will feature a 960-bed hospital and connected outpatient building that will incorporate best practices in evidence-based design and patient-centered care.

Managed by Supriya Thyagarajan, associate principal and office director of the firm’s Mumbai office, the Perkins Eastman team comprises design leaders and building-type experts from seven offices—Charlotte, Dubai, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC.

The AIIMS Nagpur campus is one of three comprehensive AIIMS campuses Perkins Eastman is designing and planning in partnership with Edifice Consultants. The other two, AIIMS Kalyani in the state of West Bengal, and AIIMS Guntur in the state of Andhra Pradesh, are projected to begin construction shortly.