Emory University’s new Health Sciences Research Building II (HSRB II) is a new 350,000 square-foot, 8-story biomedical research building that is home to the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHCS) and the School of Medicine (SOM) and will facilitate the discovery of new ways to improve human health. Adjacent to occupied HSRB I and active railroad tracks, bordered by Emory University Hospital, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, and busy Haygood Drive, our team coordinated to minimize disruption to academic and healthcare activities.
JE Dunn and design partner HOK integrated the planning and design process with essential Health Sciences leadership to maximize the project and deliver open labs and workspaces that foster collaboration. The research will focus on imaging sciences, biomedical engineering, cardiovascular medicine, child health, cancer, adult cancer, inflammation, immunity and immunotherapeutic, emerging infections, and other interdisciplinary programs.
This state-of-the-art facility has both wet and dry laboratories, an imaging facility, BSL 2 and 3 labs, Cyclotron, Hot Cell, MRI, PET/CT, faculty offices, collaborative spaces for researchers, support, and conferencing spaces as well as connections to the auditorium and café at HSRBI. At the center of the building’s design is a six-story central atrium that includes sculpted pedestrian bridges, a multi-tiered cantilever stair, a prominent full-height facade supported by a concealed truss at the roof level, and a large skylight that fills the interior with natural light and a six-story interior green wall at the entrance, which is meant to encourage the use of an adjacent stairway and connect people with nature.
HSRB-II reflects Emory’s decades-long commitment to sustainability. Opening its first LEED Silver building in the Southeast 20+ years ago, Emory University continues to push the sustainability boundaries by setting significant targets for reduction(s) in both energy use intensity (EUI) and water use and Emory requires each of their projects to achieve a minimum of LEED Silver certification. On the HSRB II, the university set an ambitious EUI goal and are targeting USGB LEED Gold certification.
