Northwestern College, Health and Natural Sciences Building

Promoting Synergies Between Biology, Chemistry and Nursing

The state-of-the-art Health and Natural Sciences Building at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, fills the last vacant site on college’s classic collegiate quadrangle.

The building serves as a gateway to the campus from the west, capturing the corner of the site with a raised entry plaza and welcoming garden. The building addresses both the street and the quadrangle while connecting existing and new campus walking paths.

Respecting the campus’s historic masonry architecture, the building features warm terra-cotta panels on the street elevation that recall the soft brick of the oldest building on campus, Zweimer Hall. A ribbon of glass greets visitors from the west entry plaza linking west and east entrances. An east facing atrium connects floors and creates a community of learning for the Health and Natural Sciences programs. A gently curving north facing glass curtain wall provides faculty with office views to the quadrangle. Garden plazas at each entry complete the exterior design.

The design embodies Project Kaleidoscope principles by supporting an active and collaborative learning environment, in which students “learn science by doing science.” The building promotes synergies between the biology, chemistry, and nursing programs, which are currently located in outdated and off-campus facilities. Flexible floor plans follow standard lab modules to accommodate current programs while being adaptability for future reconfigurations.

Two zones of lab modules, separated by a wide corridor for collaboration, create a center for science education and interactive learning. An office zone to the north allow faculty to be steps away from both teaching and research labs.

Anatomy and Physiology teaching labs share the entry level with a simulation suite for Nursing. Combined with faculty offices and a reception point for Nursing, the entry level showcases learning environments for the Health Sciences. Nursing skills labs and a nursing common are in the lower level, daylit with clerestory windows and a three-story atrium. A small vivarium and animal procedure room have elevator access to an isolated suite in the lower level. The upper level hosts flexible teaching labs, instrumentation, and dedicated research labs for upper-level biology and chemistry courses. A rooftop greenhouse and experimental garden accessed through the mechanical penthouse complete the building program.

Portfolio
Location

Orange City, Iowa

Building Type

Academic STEM

Size

65,000 SF


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