Texas A&M University and EYP have recently completed a renovation and modernization project of the university’s Engineering & Health Building for the Engineering Medicine (EnMed) program.
The program is an integrated medical and engineering option for medical school that focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship wherein students simultaneously earn their doctor of medicine and master of engineering in four years.
The EnMed building is located in the east of the Texas Medical Center. The facilities required an extensive renovation of two connected structures — a two-story former bank built in 1952 and a 17-story office tower built in 1962.
The exterior facade was replaced and redesigned and now features a unitized glazed curtain wall system with stone and metal panels. Inside, the building features large, reconfigurable learning studios, flexible classrooms, multidisciplinary labs, and glass-enclosed collaboration spaces. The elevator shafts in the old office building were small and needed to be made bigger to accommodate gurneys. The build team combined two elevator shafts and ordered a custom elevator to achieve the needed size.
A 2,471-sf maker space serves EnMed’s engineering curricula with reconfigurable tables, 3D printers, a machine shop, and a floor-to-ceiling glass partition system that provides views to what is happening inside. Embedded in the glass is one of the original bank vault doors that bridges the building’s past and future. Additionally, 3D modeling and virtual creation tools are available to all students in the VR and AR simulation rooms.
A medical education simulation center offers students skills-based training on the healthcare side of the program. The simulation suite provides a hospital environment complete with beds, mock headwalls, and integrated teaching space.
Also included are a cafe, a 240-seat auditorium, conference spaces, and support areas. The facility’s “crown jewel” is the 17th-floor board room and multifunction space, designed to attract students, faculty, and donors to the program.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Oct 16, 2015
Competency-based learning: A glimpse into the future of higher education?
For better or worse, the higher education experience for many young Millennials and Gen Zers will not resemble the four-year, life-altering experience that we enjoyed—it’s just too costly.
University Buildings | Sep 21, 2015
Vietnamese university to turn campus into ‘terraced forest’
Pockets of plantings will be dispersed throughout the staggered floors of the building, framing the expansive courtyard at its center.
University Buildings | Sep 21, 2015
6 lessons in campus planning
For campus planning, focus typically falls on repairing the bricks and mortar without consideration of program priorities. Gensler's Pamela Delphenich offers helpful tips and advice.
Mixed-Use | Aug 26, 2015
Innovation districts + tech clusters: How the ‘open innovation’ era is revitalizing urban cores
In the race for highly coveted tech companies and startups, cities, institutions, and developers are teaming to form innovation hot pockets.
University Buildings | Aug 13, 2015
Best of Education Design: 9 projects named AIA Education Facility Design Award winners
Georgia Tech's Clough Commons, Boston's Berklee Tower, and seven other facilities were honored for aiding learning and demonstrating excellent architectural design.
Giants 400 | Aug 7, 2015
UNIVERSITY SECTOR GIANTS: Collaboration, creativity, technology—hallmarks of today’s campus facilities
At a time when competition for the cream of the student/faculty crop is intensifying, colleges and universities must recognize that students and parents are coming to expect an education environment that foments collaboration, according to BD+C's 2015 Giants 300 report.
Contractors | Jul 29, 2015
Consensus Construction Forecast: Double-digit growth expected for commercial sector in 2015, 2016
Despite the adverse weather conditions that curtailed design and construction activity in the first quarter of the year, the overall construction market has performed extremely well to date, according to AIA's latest Consensus Construction Forecast.
University Buildings | Jul 28, 2015
OMA designs terraced sports center for UK's Brighton College
Designs for what will be the biggest construction project in the school’s 170-year history feature a rectangular building at the edge of the school’s playing field. A running track is planned for the building’s roof, while sports facilities will be kept underneath.
University Buildings | Jul 21, 2015
Maker spaces: Designing places to test, break, and rebuild
Gensler's Kenneth Fisher and Keller Roughton highlight recent maker space projects at MIT and the University of Nebraska that provide just the right mix of equipment, tools, spaces, and disciplines to spark innovation.
University Buildings | Jul 2, 2015
Design for new pavilion in Toronto includes a ‘peel-away’ façade
An architect's proposal for a renovation of the main office building at the Ontario College of Art and Design features a façade that fans out from the edges of the building, like it’s opening up to visitors.
