Project Description
The University of Florida Clinical Translational Research Building (CTRB) serves as the major catalyst for developing models and synergies in aging and geriatric medicine research and education, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, and health care across all Colleges and Departments at the University. Located within the Health Sciences District of the Gainesville, Florida campus, the CTRB is the home of the NIH funded Institute on Aging (IOA) and the Clinical Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI). These two institutes are joined within a facility that is one of the first of its kind. The CTRB combines clinical space, dry labs, research and office space for various departments in the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health and Health Professions. The project has a LEED® certification goal of Platinum and will incorporate carbon neutral and Living Building Challenge criteria.
Inspired by the principles of the Biophilia Hypothesis, the project emerges from the inherent human affinity for natural systems and processes. Understanding the environmental forces of the site, as well as the surrounding context which includes wetlands, wooded gardens, a parking structure and a cogeneration plant, informed the programmatic organization, massing and site strategies. The concept of emerged from the desire to provide sustainable healing, working and educational environments.