Center for Medical Education and Emerging Viral Threats

The Center for Medical Education is an engine supporting the next generation of health professionals in Louisiana. Designed to connect students with one another and link body to mind, the project converts a former surface parking lot into a new campus gateway. Glass and metal emerge from a terracotta base, their transparency and lightness transforming the structure from bunker to beacon, and this vitality matches the programs within: the Emerging Viral Threats lab, a classroom-in-the-round, clinical skills and simulation suites, a fitness center, and dining. A focus on wellness permeates the building: daylight reaches deep into labs, acoustical dampening enhances gathering spaces, and circulation areas provide views and natural light. Native landscapes, drainage swales, and flood mitigation strategies strengthen resilience, while plazas, gardens, and connections to the campus concourse welcome the broader community.

“These are difficult projects to deliver, and it was delivered in a very thoughtful way in terms of planning and architecture. The school invested in a particularly ambitious project, and it is always gratifying to see that a school is willing to make this kind of investment in its campus because ultimately, it is for its future.”

—Tom Kundig, FAIA