Carle Foundation Hospital has begun construction on its nine-story, 375,350 square-foot patient care tower, which will house the Carle Heart and Vascular Institute.

The $220 million facility will include space for advanced technology, improved facilities for direct patient care, and most importantly, a modern, comfortable environment for patients and their families. The tower will replace beds currently located in buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s.

“With advancing technology and changing patient needs, we must be committed to improvements for patients today and for those we will serve in the future,” ...[more]

Shepley Bulfinch welcomed Partners In Health co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer (“Mountains Beyond Mountains”) to our Boston office today, where he spoke at the unveiling of plans for a new rehabilitation and training center in Haiti.

We partnered with colleagues from Boston’s healthcare and design communities to deliver this pro bono project, joining with Partners in Health, Partners Healthcare, Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, and the Mass Design Group to address the immediate and long-term demand for rehabilitation services in Haiti.

Carole Wedge welcomed 80 guests to this morning’s event. “We got as much as we gave in this process,” she said, pointing to the design response forged by a tight timetable, limited ...[more]

Catching the sun as it plays across the building’s surface, the undulating façade system for the University of Houston’s Health and Biomedical Sciences Center is an innovative design solution that responds to challenges in topography and program.

The risk of flooding on the low-lying site disallowed a basement, shifting all mechanical space to the top of the building. Likewise, the building program’s secure research spaces – typically located below grade – are also at the top level. Since both the mechanicals and research program require windowless spaces, the upper half of the building façade has few openings.

Recognizing the potentially overwhelming proportion of a solid façade, the design team used reflection ...[more]

Johns Hopkins marked a milestone in the completion of the Brody Learning Commons with a May 9 topping-off ceremony. The symbolic last steel beam, bearing hundreds of signatures of members of the Hopkins community, was hoisted into place at the end of the event.

With hard hats on and shovels in hand, students, faculty, alumni, and donors broke ground on Hamline University’s new University Center today at the site for the new building, on the southwest edge of Hamline’s campus in St. Paul, Minnesota.  University President Linda Hanson announced that the building would be named the Carol Young Anderson and Dennis Anderson University Center, in honor of the project’s lead donors.

The three-level glass and terra cotta building will include large and small meeting spaces, computer bars, dining facilities, a coffee shop, a Spirit ...[more]

The design team of Shepley Bulfinch of Boston and Lake|Flato Architects of San Antonio has begun schematic design for Austin’s New Central Library.

A destination and a city landmark in the making, the New Central Library will welcome residents to a facility that emphasizes the delivery of information in both electronic and book formats, and includes a mix of lively and contemplative spaces. Collections will be displayed to encourage discovery, supported by state-of-the-art technologies integrated throughout the facility.

“What will the library need to be 30 years from now? In 2009, we could not have envisioned the astonishing development of e-books, tablets, and smartphones in 2010,” said Sid Bowen, managing principal of ...[more]

It’s official! Salem State University (Salem, MA) broke ground for its new library and learning commons on December 7. University president Patricia Maguire Meservey and Jacob Segal, chair of the university’s board of trustees, were joined by local political leaders and top state education officials in a ceremony on the university’s north campus.

The 124,000 square foot facility replaces the previous campus library, which was closed in late 2007 for concerns about its structural safety. The four-story library will include instructional labs, group study rooms, and a testing center, and ...[more]

A symbolic ‘topping off’ ceremony on November 4  marked the installation of the last piece of structural steel for the Anderson Student Center at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The 240,000 square foot project, which is scheduled to open in early 2012, will replace many of the services currently housed in the university’s Murray-Herrick Campus Center.

Shepley Bulfinch and Opus AE Group designed Anderson Student Center, which was completed in association with Opus Design Build. Shepley and Opus have worked together on the St. Thomas ...[more]