HOK to Design Medical School Within Buffalo’s Downtown Campus

Following its triumph in global design ideas competition, HOK has been opted for designing the new University at Buffalo (UB) School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Grimshaw and Davis Brody Bond , Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Cannon Design, and Rafael Vinoly Architects with Foit-Albert Associates, were the competition finalists.

The medical school development is based at the heart of the region’s bio-sciences area, with almost 1,200 students, faculty and staff. The new academic medical center intends being designed in an interlinking-fashion, where students, researchers and faculty can easily move between classroom-lab-bedside.

HOK’s designing expertise was recognized by UB’s selection committee. Some of its significant design achievements have been summarized as follows. The firm was the lead designer for the William Eckhardt Research Center of the University of Chicago and the Francis Crick Institute's cardiovascular and cancer research center in Central London; HOK designed Saudi Arabia’s renowned King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Adding to its credits, it recently succeeded in an international competition for designing the Fondazione Ri.MED Biomedical Research and Biotechnology Center in Palermo, Sicily.

HOK’s other successful creations include designing medical centers for the University of Central Florida, Ohio State University in Columbus, Washington University in St. Louis, Florida State University, and USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, and many more.

HOK’s director of science and technology Bill Odell, led majority of those projects.

Partly funded by NYSUNY 2020 legislation, the proposed $375 M medical school is a major component of the UB 2020 plan for academic excellence.

Based on UB’s sustainability and climate-impact reduction features, HOK will design a highly sustainable building, anticipating Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. The medical school will begin its construction by fall 2013, which will be completed in 2016.

Source: http://www.hok.com/