Centerbrook joined with HDR Architects of Princeton, New Jersey, to design the Outpatient Pavilion for the UConn Health in Farmington, Connecticut. The new eight-story facility opened in 2015 and serves 4,000 visitors daily, both patients and their family members.
The 306,000-square-foot building presents a glass curtain-walled façade that curves gently in plan in acknowledgement of the nearby curving facade of UConn Health’s John Dempsey Hospital. A lower three-story glass element wraps along the curve of the entry drive to present a clear and distinctive gesture of welcome to those being dropped off. In sync with a protective canopy, the extended arms of the three-story lobby and its bridge to the garage symbolically embrace entering patients and their families.
The transparency of the structure as a whole gives visitors a preview of the interior while providing a vista outward to a landscaped green. The building features gardens and roof decks to increase patient exposure to sunlight and the surrounding natural environment.
The $203 million project encompasses a 1,400-space parking garage plus 10 acres of site development. Centerbrook collaborated with HDR Architects to design the shell and core of the building as part of a Design Build Team that included the Fusco Corporation paired with Clark Construction.
Slated for LEED Silver certification, the building houses an array of outpatient services, among them: surgery; radiation oncology; gastroenterology; dental, plastic and neurosurgery; and physical therapy. Other features are training facilities for clinician scientist recruits, a café, a healing garden and retail space for a pharmacy and optical shop. Approximately 600 employees work in the building, which has a total of 235 exam rooms.
Nearby the Outpatient Pavilion on the Farmington campus, Centerbrook designed an expansion and renovation of the UConn Health Academic Building, home to the University’s School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine. The firm also designed the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, a $135 million project that is adjacent to the campus. These and other projects are part of Connecticut’s effort to become a national leader in the field of biosciences and medicine.
Renderings & Plans © Centerbrook