Specifications include, but are not limited to: The new facility will be a single-story, steel frame column and beam structure with sloped structural steel joist roof with total conditioned space of approximately 53,000 GSF. The University has partnered with the design alliance of Cooper Mixon Architects of Jonesboro, archimania of Memphis, and Perkins & Will of Houston to realize its first building for the State of Arkansas’s first public college of veterinary medicine. The building will be designed to be resilient, adaptable, and flexible. The University's vision is to create a collaborative learning environment that encourages physical integration and interaction, facilitating cross-functional learning and knowledge opportunities within the University. It is being designed to provide an immersive learning experience and will feature viewable learning labs, classrooms with selective moveable walls, supporting facilities, and administrative functions. The building system is fully adaptable, with approximately 95% of the project designed to accommodate the future needs of the college. The aim of the project is to position the college as a specialized leader among other regional veterinary programs. To achieve this, the team took inspiration from other world-leading facilities to create a new benchmark in solving the complex set of technical requirements, future growth, recruitment attraction of students and faculty, and the need to meet the requirements of a limited budget with a return-oninvestment strategy. The facility will offer an authentic built environment that takes into consideration the needs of the faculty, students, animals, and other disciplines that will interact within its domain. The exterior site will include a simplified planting design pallet consisting mainly of grasses and trees with minimal hardscape, civil engineering, and underground utility work. The location of the building is the existing asphalt parking lot bordered by University Loop, Cherokee Street, and Driver Street. An existing mature Oak tree on the East end of the site is to remain undamaged. A garden wall courtyard for deliveries and maintenance support is planned around this existing Oak tree. A vehicular roundabout / drop-off area will be integrated into the existing intersection at Driver and Cherokee Street. The project is comprised of administrative, classroom, and veterinary medicine education (anatomy / surgery) spaces, the building will include highly technical (medical) spaces with specific requirements for mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and fire protection systems, as well as flexible classrooms and faculty and staff spaces employing A/V educational technology.
