Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine

To lay the groundwork for the study, a team of architects, interior designers and strategic planners conducted a full-day visioning workshop for an interdisciplinary group of university students, faculty, staff, administration and donors – most from the School of Dental Medicine and others from the schools of Nursing and Medicine. Numerous facilitated exercises and discussions helped the group define gaps that exist between where they were and where they want to be, and to develop key project drivers/objectives that would be used as measures against all future planning and design decisions.

Key project drivers required that the facility support the new curriculum, improve patient orientation, facilitate collaboration among all health disciplines and encourage creative thinking and research opportunities. The planning and design team worked collaboratively with a core committee of Dental School representatives, as well as with specific user groups, to determine their specific programmatic needs to support the curriculum and how the “ideal experiences” can be realistically made manifest throughout the facility. The future outcome is to establish a vibrant, patient focused environment that is conducive to team based teaching and learning.

Kahler Slater delivered a final programming study, consisting of program options, plan diagrams and preliminary cost estimates, which are being used as the foundation for the Schools’ continuing development efforts.