Kansas City, Missouri, USA

The Center for Medical Education Innovation by CO Architects and Helix Architecture + Design has been recognized for putting Kansas City University at the forefront of clinical education and being the first of a new generation of buildings on campus.

The Center for Medical Education Innovation (CMEI) is the first of a new generation of buildings at Kansas City University.

For its progressive design, the project has recently been awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture, Design, and Urban Studies.

From a campus planning perspective, the building defines and creates a new quad, recontextualizing existing buildings into a dynamic student-oriented outdoor amenity, while programmatically focusing on simulation to support a wide spectrum of competency and skills-based training for students and regional health care professionals.

Medical education is constantly advancing, making it imperative to design spaces that can flex and adapt to future advancements in medical curriculum, pedagogy, technology, and care models.

Located on an undeveloped green space at the western edge of KCU’s campus, the building is conceived as a pavilion along the quad.

It takes advantage of the sloping site to maintain the scale of the campus by lowering one floor into the ground, in effect creating a three-story building observable from the upper quad with a sunken garden level visible only from the lower quad.

The lower level opens onto a smaller, more intimate patio ensuring ample daylight. CMEI’s south-facing glass wall is protected from the sun by a large, cantilevered roof that defines a porch and main entry, which activate and engage the quad.

The flexible simulation deck extends into the quad by way of operable glass partitions, allowing this program to expand into the outdoor space and enabling ambulances, fire trucks, and mobile imaging vehicles to be integrated into simulated training scenarios.

The glass partitions and large roof overhang are part of a larger design gesture that folds the ground plane back on itself to encapsulate the upper three floors of the building.

This sectional gesture is reinforced by a multi-level, stepped lobby forum facing west towards the entry to campus.

This folding symbolizes the inclusive, engaging pedagogy of training healthcare professionals.

To fulfill the university’s requirement for flexibility, many spaces in the building are intended for multiple uses.

Upon entering, users encounter a connective, multi-level, multi-functional lobby with stadium seating that doubles as a public forum to provide waiting, colloquia, study, and briefing functions.

A raked, glazed two-story lobby and third-floor terrace volume appear to hover over the ground plane and offer a panoramic view of downtown Kansas City, visually connecting the University’s commitment to healthcare with the community it serves.

The building uses modern, low-maintenance materials, such as glass, brick, wood and precast concrete to evoke the heritage of KCU’s brick-clad campus.

The glass curtain wall creates a visually open pavilion, highlighting its learning activities, a simulation deck, clinical skills suite, osteopathic manipulative medicine lab, and multi-functional forum during the day, and transforming into a subtle, illuminated beacon on campus at night.

The glass curtain wall is anchored by two brick masses holding the building support spaces.

Rather than centralizing these spaces in a core, the elements are pulled to the edges of the building footprint, freeing the interior space for maximum flexibility.

The soft curved edges of the brick volumes are inspired by the agricultural silos that dot the countryside around Kansas City.

This LEED-certified facility serves as a regional training destination for simulation users in the greater Kansas City area.

The building was designed to enhance enrollment and retention, allowing students to share experiences and develop mastery of the curriculum.

Project: Kansas City University Center for Medical Education Innovation
Architects: CO Architects
Executive Architects: Helix Architecture + Design
Contractor: JE Dunn Construction
Client: Kansas City University
Photographers: Bill Timmerman Inc.