Project Description
The Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation (CHIPS) is a university learning and research facility located in the Medical District of Memphis, TN.
The Center provides traditional classroom and administrative space as well as simulated healthcare environments to train students for real-world community crises. The urban location, on a small site tightly hemmed in by existing Brutalist and Neo-Gothic university buildings and a city park, required both stylistic and massing innovation. The final three-story design tied together the existing structures into a cohesive campus, critically responding to and complimenting neighboring buildings through the interplay of exterior materials and the planes in which the materials are utilized. The west elevation brick plane, in particular, lifts to reveal a ramped entrance that opens to the street, framing views of the nearby park and providing an easily accessible entrance for students and visitors.
In addition, the interior classrooms are modular and easily flexible to serve a number of disciplines within the nursing and healthcare professionals departments.