Winner: Community Impact Award

The University of Texas at Austin challenged Page to design the first new Tier One public medical school from the ground up in almost 50 years in a way that would support their vision of innovative education. The campus ended up being developed with unprecedented community collaboration. Now, Austin Business Journal has bestowed Dell Medical School with a Community Impact Award, using words like "bold design", "innovative thinking" and "courageous vision".

The Health Learning Building, the first building on campus to be completed and opened, serves as the educational center/ Page designed it in association with The SLAM Collaborative and The Beck Group served as general contractor. 

Page Senior Principal and lead designer Larry Speck explained how the HLB Health Learning Building forwards the mission of the school. “This is a healthy building,” Larry noted. The design takes into account not only the interprofessional curriculum central to the school, but the mental and physical health of all the building’s occupants through elements such as the transparency of the curtain wall on the north façade, the beautiful views from the cantilevered stair and south-facing terrace. 

“Bringing light deep, deep into the interior, we did that for you guys,” Larry said. He highlighted the flexibility of the Interactive Auditorium for team-based learning and celebrated the Society and Group Rooms and the many student lounges designed for relaxing reprieves from stress. The anatomy lab is not in the basement as is tradition but on the fourth level so that it can include a wall of windows. 

“We want you to walk,” Larry told the first class of medical school students to use the facility. The central stair is the heart of the Health Learning Building. Open from the first to fifth level, it looks out over the oak-tree-filled courtyard. It is the “social edge” of the building, he explained. “We want you to walk up the stairs, interact with each other, and look out at the views. It's good for you!”  

Page provided full services on the Health Learning Building, including interior architecture and design; mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering and commissioning, which ensures system performance is right the first time. The building encourages occupant health and represents best sustainability practices and has achieved LEED Gold Certification. The daylight-filled classrooms of the future are equipped with fully interactive electronics, monitors and power sources at every seat and every lab bench.

Additionally, Dyal Branding & Graphics, A Page Company, developed an identity for the new medical school that communicates innovation and energy and supports efforts to recruit faculty and students and foster groundbreaking curricula and partnerships. Their “Rethink Everything” identity and campaign includes extensive brand guidelines which the school has used to implement other communication pieces, including wayfinding.  

Page is the architect of record in association with ZGF Architects on the additional two Dell Medical School buildings, the Health Transformation and the Health Discovery Buildings, as well as a parking garage.  

The medical district was developed as a partnership between The University of Texas at Austin, Seton Healthcare and Central Texas Healthcare. The vision for the district focuses on medical education that integrates healthcare, teaching and research within an interdisciplinary setting, taking full advantage of adjacent university resources.

To learn more about our Branding & Graphic's studio's work on the project, click here.

To learn more about our Planning studio's work on the project, click here. 

To view the list of 2018 Austin Business Journal award winners, click here.