SPOKANE, Wash. Washington State University has selected NBBJ, an architectural firm with offices in locations around the world including Seattle, for predesign and design planning of the next building at the Riverpoint Campus, a Biomedical/Health Sciences Building. Funding of $4.3 million for this phase of the project was approved in the 2009 legislative session; construction funding will be sought in a future legislative session.
The project will advance health sciences research and education program growth at the campus, which is expanding as a regional center for academic and clinical health sciences.
“The increased capacity the new building represents will facilitate and significantly expand our existing programs along with those of our partners at University of Washington and Eastern Washington University,” said campus chancellor Brian Pitcher. Programs at the campus are positioned for growth both because of increasing demand for health professionals as the Baby Boomer generation retires, and because of the opportunities to partner with Spokane’s health care sector including regional hospitals, clinics, and research institutes.
The building will provide state-of-the-art biomedical research and health sciences education facilities, and will be designed as the first phase of a potential multi-phase complex. The first phase is anticipated to be approximately 55,000 to 70,000 gross square feet in size and include basic and clinical research laboratory space; core research and teaching facilities including a vivarium and gross anatomy laboratory; allied health programs; space for the growth of pharmaceutical sciences; and administrative support spaces including offices, conference rooms and medical education classrooms. Future phases of the building are anticipated over the next several years. The location of the facility will be immediately east of the recently completed Nursing Building, on the north side of Spokane Falls Boulevard.
Health professions/health sciences programs at the campus include nursing, pharmacy, medicine, dentistry and dental hygiene, nutrition and exercise physiology, speech and hearing sciences/communication disorders, health policy and administration, occupational therapy, physical therapy, behavioral sciences and substance abuse research, and sleep and human performance research.
In 2008, a cohort of 20 first-year medical students and eight first-year dental students began their studies at the Riverpoint Campus in a partnership of the University of Washington, WSU and Eastern representing the first expansion of medical and dental education in the state in over 30 years. Campus programs in the health professions emphasize a “team care” interprofessional approach that enhances quality of care and improves patient outcomes.
Web sites:
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WSU Spokane campus development: https://www.spokane.wsu.edu/campusresources/development/index.asp
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WSU Health Sciences: www.healthsciences.wsu.edu
