BUFFALO, N.Y. — The new Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences building at the University at Buffalo (UB) was completed in October — four years after the groundbreaking ceremony in October of 2013. The grand opening is scheduled for early December, and students will be using the building the first week of January of 2018. The new facility is targeting for LEED Gold certification.

HOK, based out of New York, was the architect on the project, and LP Ciminelli out of Buffalo served as general contractor. The 628,000-square-foot building had a budget of $375 million. The State University Construction Fund and University at Buffalo was the owner of the project.

The primary reason for moving the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to downtown from UB’s South Campus was to expand, modernize and improve patient care, recruit new faculty and strengthen Buffalo’s academic health center on the growing Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, according to Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

“Expansion of medical schools is a national and regional necessity today,” said Cain. “Physician shortages in western New York range from moderate to severe in some specialties — including primary care.”

The new building has made it possible for the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to increase its class size by 25 percent, from 144 to 180 — in line with recommendations by the Association of American Medical Colleges, according to Cain.

The new medical school building houses modular 21st century, state-of-the-art learning environments that include updated classrooms and laboratories. The design features two L-shaped structures linked by a six-story, light-filled glass atrium — the building’s main interior “avenue,” according to David Schwartz, project manager at HOK.

The new medical school is physically connected to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus by an enclosed bridge, which will greatly serve the function of the faculty, researchers and students who have clinical responsibilities on the Niagara Campus.

“The design sandwiches the three research floors between the more public parts of the medical education program on the lower floors and the more specialized, pedagogical components, such as the human anatomy suite, on the upper floors,” said Schwartz. “A common atrium and second-floor ‘piano nobile,’ or principal level, fosters collaboration between educators, researchers and the greater Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus community.”

The new facility — which is targeting for LEED Gold certification — features a high-performance terra-cotta rain screen and a glass curtain wall system that brings daylight deep inside the building. The campus-housed station accentuates community connections as well as promotes sustainable transportation options.

In addition, there is a pedestrian passageway with a bike share facility that extends through the building, connecting Main and Washington streets, leading to Allen Street and the eclectic Allentown neighborhood.

Another key design feature of the building is that it was designed without a main dining facility so that area restaurants and stores will have a resulting economic benefit. “We designed the new medical school building with an eye toward contributing to economic development in the neighborhood,” explained Laura Hubbard, UB’s vice president for finance and administration. “We want medical students, faculty and staff to be out in the community, patronizing local businesses.”

The new medical school, populated by physicians and medical students alike, will bring 2,000 more people to downtown Buffalo each day. “HOK’s design for UB’s medical school creates the heart for the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus while integrating and connecting to the surrounding communities,” noted Kenneth Drucker, FAIA, design principal for the project and design director for HOK’s New York office, in a statement.

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The $18 million facility is being constructed just north of the university’s current UB Stadium, and it will serve as an indoor practice facility, according to The Spectrum, the university’s student publication. Rochester, N.Y.-based LeChase Construction is serving as the general contractor, while New York-based CHA is serving as the architect.

The new 92,000-square-foot multi-use facility will house a full-size football field as well as a 6,000-foot rubber track for sprint practice, and long jump and pole vault pits. It will also feature motorized suspended softball-hitting tunnels, according to UB Now, another university publication. While there were rumors that the facility would only be used by Division I athletes and club sports, it will actually be available for all recreation programming and intramurals.

Because it’s housed indoors, the fieldhouse will help with year-round training. It will also help with future recruiting now that UB will offer competitive athletic facilities compared to other Mid-American Conference schools.  “It’s a very exciting time for us to get a fieldhouse,” Football Head Coach Lance Leipold told UB Now. “This has been a topic of conversation for 15 to 20 years, and to finally have this opportunity to provide our student athletes with an offseason place where they can work on their skills is tremendous. It’s going to benefit the whole athletic department, whether it be in a practice setting, a strength-and-conditioning session or student athletes working out on their own. It’s going to benefit each team in very unique ways.”

The facility is being built with $3 million in donations from the Murchie family (and some football revenue). It will be named after the Murchies — Tunney Murchie is a former UB student athlete and played for the school’s now-retired Division I hockey team.

Construction on the fieldhouse is scheduled to be completed in spring 2019.

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Designed by the New York offices of HOK, the approximately 628,000-square-foot facility will comprise two, L-shaped structures to enhance connectivity for the interdisciplinary campus. The university’s children’s hospital, medical offices, medical school, clinical and translational research center, Gates Vascular Institute, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the existing Buffalo-Niagara campus will operate in the central building. Public transportation access will also be included, with the Allen Street transit hub planned for the building’s ground floor.

The new building will allow UB to expand its medical school class size from 144 to 180 students and add 100 new physician-scientists to the UB faculty. In its new downtown location, the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will allow for collaboration between physicians and scientists at the school and those at the UB Clinical and Translational Research Center, the Kaleida Health Gates Vascular Institute, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital, Buffalo General Medical Center and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.

The downtown facility is expected to generate immediate and long-term economic benefits for Buffalo, according to the school’s website. Not only will it provide construction jobs for hundreds and exceed state goals for minority-and women-owned business participation, but it will also draw an estimated 2,000 faculty, staff and students to downtown Buffalo daily. During the first phase of the project it was estimated that 24.7 percent of businesses involved were minority- and/or women-owned businesses, while minority- and/or women-owned businesses represented 20.2 percent of firms involved in the project’s second phase. Additionally, the influx of students, faculty and staff to the downtown area will increase population density in downtown, enhancing opportunities for retail and housing development, incubators, research parks and other economic development opportunities.

The construction of the new medical school building, which is seeking LEED Gold certification, is part of a greater vision to create a state-of-the-art downtown medical campus by 2020.

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