BAPTIST HEALTH SCHOOL & ALLIED HEALTH

This unique architectural assignment was to design a facility to properly accommodate the functionality of the schools of nursing, allied health, and system nursing development. The success of this design required a professional with specialized expertise and good listening skills to hear the individual needs related to each academic department and administrator.

The Baptist Health Schools of Nursing and Allied Health assignment began with the acquisition of an existing structure. The original building was the Headquarters for Leisure Arts, designed by Brooks Jackson Architects (currently JBP Architects). The structure included a four story office component, and a multi-height distribution center of approximately 150,000 sq ft.

 The task needed all the Baptist Health School departments and Allied Health functions brought under one roof and to fit it within the building envelope of the existing distribution center. We first met with the administrators of the Baptist Health System and then scheduled individual meetings with each department head. These “discovery workshops,” lead by JBP Architects, created an open a dialogue between administrators, faculty, staff, and students.

JBP listened and then synthesized the information obtained from the discovery workshops and developed a thorough program of requirements that defined the needs of each professional discipline. Once the program of requirements was established, the design team, in collaboration with the faculty and staff, looked for synergies between departments. In some cases it was determined that rooms could be shared. In others, it was decided that rooms would be given multiple functions by adding movable partitions.

 The final design organizes the student population into their different areas of expertise while maintaining student unity through common service areas.