Creighton University, Health Sciences Campus

Phoenix, Arizona

Firm

RDG Planning & Design

Client

Creighton University

Area

168,032 sq.ft.

Completion Date

08/2021

RDG Planning & Design

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Design Team
RDG Planning & Design and Butler Design Group (Architect); The Sextant Group (A/V Technology); Alvine Engineering (MEP); PK Associates (Structural); Plaza Companies (Developer); Wood, Patel & Associates, Inc. (Civil); Colwell Shelor (Landscape Architect)

The design intent is to create a dialogue with the progressing culture of Creighton University, emerging pedagogies within health science education, and adaptation to a new context. At the core of Creighton’s education is “Cura Personalis”—care for the whole person. The design team took inspiration from this and sought ways to care for the mind, body, and social and emotional aspects of the end user. The mind was engaged through active learning spaces; movement of the body was incentivized through connectors such as stairs; views to natural elements provided care to the emotional facet; and the social component was activated with generous communal space.

The new context in Phoenix (1,300 miles from the home campus in Nebraska) gave Creighton’s progressive cultural movement an opportunity to incubate. The site leveraged much of the surrounding context by capitalizing on retail in the upcoming Park Central Development. The building is within walking distance to St. Joe’s Hospital (a local partnership), and has access to public transportation. Within the facility, evolving teaching styles in active learning and collaboration among departments (medicine, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and pharmacy) define this campus as a state-of-the-art facility where new paradigms in health care will emerge.