When it comes to teaching tomorrow’s nurses, most universities offer students the technical instruction they need for their future careers. However, with the opportunity to design a new Health Sciences Building for the nursing program at UNC Pembroke, we also considered the idea that the environment could be as much a part of promoting health and wellness as the education received within it.

With this holistic approach, we set about reimagining the ways in which the building’s design could promote the health and wellness of those in and around it. We created a dynamic, light-filled facility with classrooms, simulation labs, study spaces, a large atrium, and a dining hall while reinforcing to students the importance of light, space, nature, balance, circulation, movement. and well-being. Additionally, the building is impressively “healthy” by architectural standards. It has many sustainable features—including extensive green roofs and exterior glazing and shading that mitigate heat gain in the coastal plain climate.