Northern Arizona University
Health and Learning Center
Flagstaff, AZ
Northern Arizona University’s Health and Learning Center is a student-focused environment that inspires and promotes holistic wellness with medical spaces, group exercise, an indoor elevated jogging track, a climbing wall, gymnasiums, and locker rooms. Encompassing a clinic, urgent care, pharmacy, lab, x-ray, counseling, testing center, employee assistance, and wellness, the health service program provides students with information and services that promote healthy living, including dietary counseling, massage, prevention awareness, and fitness training. In conjunction with the university’s Student Union and Dining Hall expansion, also designed by Cannon Design, the new Health and Learning Center continues Northern Arizona University’s commitment to sustainable, healthy lifestyles for its students, expands and opens the campus core, and provides students with a wealth of recreational, health, and dining options. The university is pursuing LEED Gold certification for the project.
“Thanks for doing such a thorough job. . .I appreciate many things about you and your colleagues - your ability to listen and patiently incorporate changes, your ability to hold the line when necessary, and your stamina in working through issues.” Beth Applebee, NAU Campus Health Director
Having recently opened an Office of Sustainability and set a goal of becoming a carbon-neutral campus by 2020, Northern Arizona University wanted its new Health and Learning Center to achieve LEED Gold certification and meet the most recent specifications of the 2030 Challenge, which included a 50% reduction of the building’s carbon footprint.
The 287,000 sf renovation and addition project achieves these goals through a variety of strate¬gies, not the least of which is the consolidation of programs from five separate standalone buildings—campus recreation center, campus health clinic, athletic training and competition, disability resources, and general classrooms—under one roof.
An array of 102 solar thermal panels on the roof meets 70% of hot-water demand for athletic and recreation showers and is able to fully meet hot-water demands during an annual two-week shutdown of the central plant for preventive maintenance. The solar array has also reduced the building’s overall energy usage by 6%. An existing graywater loop running through campus supplies the building with water for toilet flushing and landscaping irrigation.
View LEED Points
- Learning labs
- Medical spaces
- Indoor elevated jogging track
- Climbing wall
- Gymnasiums and locker rooms
- Health service program spaces
Distinctions
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Citation for Design Excellence
Association of College Unions International
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Citation for Design Excellence
American School & University
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Citation for Design Excellence
American School & University
Credits
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Bill Timmerman Photography