Health and Learning Center

Strengthening wellness culture and rejuvenating recreation

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Client
Northern Arizona University
Location
Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
Size
60,000 square feet
Status
Completed 2014

Northern Arizona University proved an early champion of integrated and holistic wellness design with their visionary Health and Learning Center. The building is deeply student-focused, connecting student recreation and health programs, academic spaces, a medical clinic, classrooms and an athletic component.

The center replaced a previous building characterized as introverted, dark and disconnected, with a visionary space that creates connectivity to the rest of the pedestrian-friendly campus, effectively eliminating the previous project area’s island-like feel. Through these design efforts and more, the Health and Wellness Center has become a hub for dynamic student experiences on the campus.

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Our design team envisioned the programmatic elements as an ecology of opportunity for holistic wellness. On the recreation side, wellness rooms, cardio space and multi-use courts prove essential.
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Our design team envisioned the programmatic elements as an ecology of opportunity for holistic wellness. On the recreation side, wellness rooms, cardio space and multi-use courts prove essential.
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Our design team envisioned the programmatic elements as an ecology of opportunity for holistic wellness. On the recreation side, wellness rooms, cardio space and multi-use courts prove essential.
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Student life and vitality are key focus areas for the university, and this building is designed as tangible evidence of that commitment.

The center is robust in its wellness resources with medical spaces, areas for group exercise, an indoor elevated jogging track, a climbing wall, gymnasiums and locker rooms. Elsewhere, the building boasts a clinic, urgent care, pharmacy, lab, x-ray, counseling space, employee assistance areas and a health service suite. Not only can students practice wellness in the building, they are also educated around diet, massage, prevention, awareness and fitness.

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The center embraces nature as a catalyst for health and wellness. Here, abundant daylight is able to dive deep into the building and nourish student experiences.
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The design creates opportunities for students to connect, relax and engage amidst the exciting recreation spaces dispersed across the building.
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The design creates opportunities for students to connect, relax and engage amidst the exciting recreation spaces dispersed across the building.

Stronger financial health

Our design team considered numerous possibilities for the Health and Learning Center. Ultimately, the project helped consolidate five previously disparate buildings and saved the university more than $20 million based on original addition plans developed. Beyond this cost savings, the building better empowers the university to realize its vision of holistic student wellness and academic success as an incredible epicenter where students enhance their mind, body and spirit.

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The building includes exterior athletics components, expanding the university's existing Lumberjack Stadium.
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The building includes exterior athletics components, expanding the university's existing Lumberjack Stadium.
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The building has become a visual icon for the rest of the campus, a clear reminder of the importance of health and wellness.