Project Story
The Nursing & Student Wellness Center will serve as a symbol for the future of nursing education and, more broadly, as a beacon of health and well-being for the entire Emporia State University community. The design honors the Emporia State campus aesthetic in creative and practical ways. The building incorporates WELL Building guidelines to create a positive impact on human health, well-being, and the overall experience within and around the new building. The project’s design also takes inspiration from the Roy Adaptation Model, which describes health as a state and process of being and becoming integrated and whole.
Design Concept
The building’s curved form represents an inward Embrace; creating a space of nurturing and caring, which welcomes and supports Nursing Education, the Student Wellness Center, and the entire Emporia State University community. The building’s sweeping form expresses this concept with its east facade, which reaches out toward Wooster Lake offering building occupants panoramic views of the surrounding Emporia State University campus landscape.
Inside, a multi-story entry reveals wood ceilings at each level that reach deep into the building, connecting all three floors, and highlighting a connection though the building to Wooster Lake and the broader campus context. The building’s glass enclosed southwest corner contains highly visible meeting and communal spaces to create a beacon of health and well-being for the Nursing School and Student Wellness Center.
Site Context
The site’s central location on the Emporia State University campus features attractive and expansive views toward Wooster Lake. The building will be immediately south of the recently renovated student life residence hall, Abigail Hall, and is a short walk to Memorial Union and the historic administration building, Plumb Hall.
The gently sloping site will feature two entrance levels, one facing Morse Drive to the west and the other facing the future campus quad to the south. The two entrances provide a high level of the accessibility, ease of access, and visibility for both Nursing and the Student Wellness Center.
New sidewalks and landscaping surround the new building and seamlessly integrate the project within the campus landscape while reinforcing and improving campus connections, view corridors, and circulation patterns.
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