Title: Virginia Commonwealth University College of Health Professions
Location of Proejct: Richmond, Virginia
Project Completion Date: April 2019
Firm Name: EYP Architecture & Engineering

Short Description: Unifying talent, programs, and technology, the College of Health Professions at Virginia Commonwealth University empowers students and faculty by bringing 11 of the college’s departments—previously dispersed in separate buildings across downtown Richmond—together under one roof to combine their individual strengths into a flexible community of interprofessional collaboration.

This highly visible project, located only a few blocks from the state capitol, holistically achieves programmatic excellence, equitably impacts the surrounding community, and provides an exemplary model for a sustainable, modern built environment that reflects the national rankings and caliber of its teaching programs.

Architect's Statement: The College of Health Professions supports Virginia’s healthcare workforce by providing highly skilled professionals with education in Physical and Occupational Therapy, Nurse Anesthesia, Radiation Sciences, Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Health Administration, and a variety of Counseling and Aging-related services. Graduates join a rapidly evolving clinical world where practitioners work in integrated teams to deliver patient-centered care. VCU’s campus master plan established this shared facility to expand its Health Sciences campus and provide greater opportunities for students to learn to work together.

Balancing professional diversity and collective institutional identity, the 155,000 SF building is composed of a four-story podium of shared teaching and technology-rich experiential learning resources and an eight-story tower of specialized training and research spaces. Together, these elements establish an urban footprint that visibly marks VCU’s commitment to excellence in scholarship and improvement of patient outcomes. This building is a key contributor to Richmond’s plan for a rejuvenated, mixed-use downtown area. The building’s L-shaped geometry brackets a new pedestrian thoroughfare through the site, connecting student life amenities to the north and the medical campus to the south.

The small site was designed to provide a public park and create a strong connection between VCU’s academic and clinical spaces. The site previously housed a series of aging dormitory structures and large stands of existing Willow Oak trees. From the outset, these trees were considered an asset to provide shade for pedestrians and offer views of nature from interior spaces. The placement and vertical massing of the building were coordinated to protect the trees’ health throughout construction.

“Under 1 roof,” the headline on VCU’s website, tells a design story of unity and connection for its previously separated academic units. Design decisions revolved around creating collaborative academic neighborhoods, blurring the lines between departments, and creating community within a high-rise urban structure. The building’s plan organization provides strategic adjacencies to enable the health disciplines to avoid silos, share teaching amenities with robust distance technology, and promote interprofessional activity. The design reinforces VCU’s goal of active learning by incorporating a series of two-story vertical “collaboration zones” on each level of the tower.

Three key principles guided the building’s exterior and interior design: wellness, engagement, and movement.
• Prioritizing environmental quality, incorporating natural views, and encouraging healthy habits such as exercise were key focus topics during design. The health educators wanted their building to “walk the walk” of wellness promotion and support the emotional and physical wellbeing of students.
• The primarily glass facade establishes a visual connection between the warm and inviting interiors and the surrounding environment, while showcasing the programs’ activities to the community. The functions of the building are accessible and welcoming, promoting the values of health and wellness. This is best embodied in the ground-level auditorium, which has large windows opening directly onto Leigh Street with views of old growth trees. This space offers occupants an immersive experience of the surrounding downtown.
• The physical form and development of public spaces includes an active monumental stair that connects the Community Gallery to the Interprofessional Simulation Center, which encourages healthy practices and reflects the physicality of movement, a key aspect of physical assistance in many of the college’s disciplines. The stair is framed by a feature wall of local materials that reprises a chevron motif from VCU’s original historic medical college building. Egress stairwells also received enhanced design with full-height glazing to encourage all occupants to take the stairs.

The project goal was LEED Silver Certification, but with enhanced energy conservation and innovative design, VCU has been able to apply for Gold. A detailed energy model was used to improve performance characteristics. The striking glass tower is composed of 11 distinct types of high-performance glazing. Selections were made based on function, program, and the desire for transparency during daylight and night hours to showcase activity within the building. South and west exposures minimized glazing to reduce heat gain and energy requirements and incorporated both horizontal and vertical exterior sun shading. For a cohesive exterior, special attention was given to the multiple glazing types on the façade, which allow users spectacular views from the key program spaces.

Learning from post-occupancy research and employing evidence-based design is an important step for continued advancement of the interprofessional education building type. The design team and VCU have partnered to advance the national dialogue by attending conferences and sharing how design can facilitate learning a team-based healthcare approach.

The impact of the new building on the college’s mission for the community has been immediate, since over 75% of the college’s students remain in the state. The reach is extensive: distance learning classrooms help fill the gaps in rural areas by training students at remote sites. In addition, advances in research are taking place. Since opening, the college has secured over $4 million to advance knowledge and spur discovery.