Innovative design prescribes new medical training/teaching facility
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Campbell University’s Leon Levine Hall of Medical Science, Lillington, N.C., is the first new medical school built in North Carolina since East Carolina’s Brody School of Medicine was established in 1977. Leon Levine Hall, home to Campbell University’s School of Osteopathic Medicine, will train future doctors and other medical professionals, focusing on North Carolina’s rural and underserved communities. Students may select to train in the disciplines of primary care, family medicine, general surgery, pediatrics and psychiatry.
In only three years, college officials were able to raise $80 million to launch the medical school and its programs, recruit both faculty and students, and complete construction on the 96,000-square-foot facility. “We have to pinch ourselves at times, but it really has happened,” says former Campbell University President Jerry Wallace. “Another big miracle at Buies Creek!”
Permanence and Purpose
“As we began exploring materials for the exterior, we wanted materials that tied to the existing main campus architecture, but also could be arranged in a more contemporary composition demonstrating Campbell’s commitment to creating an entirely new medical campus,” says Michael Coates, director of design at Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Durham, N.C. “We wanted the materials to be natural and to have a sense of permanence and longevity. Zinc was the logical choice for both the roof material and the vertical panels that turn down at the building’s main and secondary points of entry. This selection was critical because it would set the tone for all future buildings on the new campus.”
Campbell University’s commitment to health sciences necessitated a building with a sense of permanence. Zinc was selected as the cladding material because of its durability and longevity. A total of 40,000 square feet of VMZ Interlocking panels in 1-mm QUARTZZINC from Umicore Building Products USA Inc., Raleigh N.C., is used on the walls. VMZ Standing seam panels in 1-mm QUARTZZINC are used on the roof of the building projecting an impressive visual aesthetic. The general contractor was T.A. Loving Co., Goldsboro, N.C., and the metal installer was Baker Roofing Co., Raleigh.
Physical Connections
Physical connections between programs reinforce the relationships between patient care, research and clinical education. By providing ample space for social interaction, students, administrators, professors and doctors who remain on campus for long periods of time have places for individual study, group study, dining, relaxing and interacting with fellow students beyond their structured class curriculum. The facility’s two narrow buildings are linked by a glass entry portal opening into the grand hall creating a flexible multipurpose space for events and daily student interaction. Primary circulation corridors along the exterior face of both the north and south wings make visible the movement taking place within while providing building occupants with unobstructed views to the outdoors. Coates explains, “The narrow footprint also allows natural daylight to spill further into the central parts of the building.”
Clerestory windows invite daylight into the fourth floor anatomy lab. Natural light on the north and south sides enter the lab through windows located high on the exterior wall without disrupting educational programs. In fact, light washes every part of the building, from public spaces such as the grand hall, library and café, to the typically dark anatomy and simulation laboratories. New Bern, N.C.- based Brinn Glass Inc. supplied a 30,000-squarefoot curtainwall punctuated by aluminum infill panels from Lincoln, Neb.-based Mapes Panels LLC.
“By shifting the two buildings, outdoor seating areas, terraces and green spaces are created to imply a more established sense of place for Campbell’s newly developed medical campus,” explains Coates. “With Leon Levine Hall being the first completed building, these exterior spaces also encourage connectivity to future campus buildings.”
“Architects often talk about buildings with form following function,” says Jim Roberts, vice president of business at Campbell University. “That’s what we’ve done here. The building is set up with two structures tied together to provide wonderful student spaces, wonderful open study spaces, light and access, and facilities that meet the needs of the way medical education is taught today.”
One Large Learning Lab
Learning trends indicate a growing demand for flexible spaces that promote collaboration. The facility’s open plan library permits both group and individual study, while flexible furniture layouts in common corridors and open study spaces provide work zones throughout the building that foster learning, socialization and collaboration.
Clarity of circulation and flow are as critical to the building design as the circulatory system is to the human body, hence the design team’s focus on branded and environmental graphics. Visitors and prospective students are greeted upon entry into the two-level lobby by a stairway that represents the human body’s musculoskeletal system, with directional signage that guides people through the building with ease.
This modern learning environment also features:
- simulation labs similar to emergency rooms
- laboratories
- an osteopathic manipulative medicine lab
- a labor and delivery room
- two lecture halls for 200
- student group study rooms
- student interaction areas
- a resource library
- a small café
- intensive-care units
- a debriefing room
- primary-care clinics
- a prayer chapel
Sophisticated technical equipment for interaction, demonstration and testing is embedded throughout the entire facility. A virtual lab helps students to gain experience with surgical simulations and to be exposed to colonoscopies, esophagogastroduodenoscopies and bronchoscopies.
In keeping with basic principles of osteopathic medical practice, the campus employs many sustainable design concepts, including north-south solar orientation for daylighting; long-lasting, easily maintainable materials like zinc; a high-performance energy system yielding long-term environmental benefits; and irrigation from an existing pond. All of this makes for a well-designed school innovative enough to reflect the distinct medical education it plans on delivering. An adjacent second building, dedicated to nursing and health sciences, is currently under construction and also incorporates zinc as the primary roofing material and vertical metal panels.
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Sidebar: Leon Levine Hall of Medical Science, Lillington, N.C.
Completed: June 2013
Total square feet: 96,500 square feet
Building owner: Campbell University
Architect: Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Durham, N.C.
General contractor: T.A. Loving Co., Goldsboro, N.C.
Metal installer: Baker Roofing Co., Raleigh, N.C.
Aluminum infill panels: Mapes Panels LLC, Lincoln, Neb., www.mapespanels.com
Curtainwall supplier/installer: Brinn Glass Inc., New Bern N.C.,
www.brinnglass.com
Metal wall/roof panels: Umicore Building Products USA Inc., Raleigh, www.vmzinc-us.com
