Health Services Building renovation includes green-building practices

ASU's Facilities Development and Management completed a major renovation and expansion during March 2012 to the Health Services Building on the Tempe campus. Structure space was added for the first time since 1968, when Tempe campus student enrollment topped 23,000. Today, student enrollment is approaching 60,000 students on the Tempe campus. 

The $10-million project demolished a portion of the building that was built in 1954, and added around 20,000 square feet of new space. Approximately 14,500 square feet of the building constructed in 1968 was fully renovated.

"We’re very excited about the changes," said Allan Markus, director of ASU Health Services. "We created a much more modern, beautiful, and efficient health center that allows more accessibility for all students to health services."

The building’s addition and renovations created space for acute care services that allow more patients to be seen per day and decreases their wait times. Patient wait times for visits that require laboratory testing have decreased by 30-50 minutes on average since building renovations were finished.

The new building offers patients primary care and women’s health services in addition to wellness-care services such as massage, acupuncture and chiropractic.

Public spaces at the facility include semi-private indoor and outdoor waiting areas, which double as quiet places for student study.

Concrete from the old courtyard was sawn into blocks and repurposed into the landscaping, and bricks and recyclable materials from the building demolition were salvaged and used in other areas. Facilities Development and Management is applying to the U.S. Green Building Council for the project be certified as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold.

Health Services also is collaborating with the Herberger Institute’s School of Art Northlight Gallery to exhibit art on the second floor, featuring works by student and faculty artists.

“We wanted the building to be an inviting place,” Markus said. “This is now a place where students would want to go.”