The U.C. Davis Student Health and Wellness Center is ensuring the university’s student body remains healthy while setting a green example. Designed by WRNS Studio, the new 77,000 square-foot center is a comprehensive facility focused on providing for primary care services, women’s health, specialty clinics, counseling services, and health promotion and education. The project is seeking LEED Gold certification, which exceeds the regent’s policy for green building design, and it will exceed California’s Stringent Title 24 standards by at least 25%.
Set on a prominent location along one of the campus’s major circulation paths, the new health center is highly accessible to students. A number of green building systems were integrated into the building’s design to help it achieve LEED Gold. For instance, the building is oriented on an east/west axis to maximize both northern and southern exposure while reducing heat gain during the area’s notoriously hot summers. The north side contains the building’s waiting areas, all of which are flooded with plenty of daylight due to floor-to-ceiling glass walls. The roof above the lobby showcases the campus’s first vegetated roof, which features drought-tolerant flowering sedums. A storm water retention basin was installed to collect the site’s storm water runoff and recharge the natural aquifer. On the interior, modular assembly was used throughout the design to accommodate changes in technology and programmatic needs.
+ UC Davis Student Health Center
+ WRNS Studio All Images © Bruce Damonte
