IMEP Health Professions Education Building Moves Into Schematic Design Phase
President David Carlisle and the University Board of Trustees have approved the Schematic Design phase of the new Health Professions and Education Building( HPEB) that will house the CDU 4-Year Independent Medical Education Program. According to Gregory Coles, Principal and Lead Architect on the HPEB project for the S / L / A / M Collaborative,“ This is important for several reasons, most significantly it signals the start of the actual building design phase. This also shows a commitment to the project by the Senior Leadership of the University which will assist in the fundraising effort for the new school. In the words of a construction colleague of mine,‘ You can’ t finish if you don’ t start’.”
THE SCHEMATIC WILL BE BASED UPON THE GUIDING DESIGN PRINCIPLES THE SLAM TEAM ESTABLISHED WITH CDU DURING THE PRE-DESIGN PHASE. THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF THOSE PRINCIPLES:
IMPACTFUL: Respect campus context [ and Master Plan ] while setting the stage for future buildings.
OPEN: Let the Watts-Willowbrook-Compton communities see what is happening in their medical school.
COMMUNITY-BASED: Places where COM and our community work together to develop doctors among us and inspire the next generation of CDU physicians.
TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED: Adaptable to the best available science, technology, and research innovations to improve the lives of our community.
STUDENT CENTERED: Spectacular formal and informal learning environments that support students in every aspect of their lives.
ACTION-ORIENTED: A design that values each person and encourages action.
S / L / A / M WILL INCORPORATE THE INFORMATION SHARED DURING THE MANY MEETINGS OVER THE PAST 1 ½ YEARS, COLES NOTED.“ We will now utilize all the data we collected during the Pre-Design phase related to the Visioning Workshops, Space Program, Stacking / Adjacency Diagrams and Conceptual Design to develop the floor plans and elevations.” He added,“ This would include sustainable, iconic, flexible and cost-effective elements. Design is an iterative process so the schematic design drawings will continue to build on the conceptual design previously presented. The floor plans will need to be further developed and then the exterior elevations and massing will be adjusted to respond to the final SD floor plans. Additionally, CDU has stated that the building façade should be more open and welcoming, so we will study options to reduce the vertical elements.”
COM Dean’ s Advisory Committee member and veteran project developer Dr. Phil Hart offered this assessment,“ Moving into schematic design is an important and necessary step to finalizing what the HPEB will look like, how the building will be used, and its place on the campus. The schematic design process will provide better definition of the costs to build the HPEB which in turn can help inform our fundraising strategy.
“ In previous buildings I have developed, whether design-build or design-bid-build, close collaboration with the architect from pre-design to schematic design to design development to construction documents to construction administration is essential to completing a building on time and on budget.”
The next phase following Schematic Design is referred to as Design Development. As the name implies, S / L / A / M will develop the design in greater detail while continuing to engineer the mechanical, electrical and structural systems for the building.
CDU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE | PG. 12