A New Technology-Driven Anatomy Lab at Tufts

The year is 1950 – Tufts University School of Medicine sits quietly at the border between Boston’s Chinatown and Leather districts. The M&V Complex, a former garment manufacturing facility, acts as the main building on the campus. The surrounding neighborhoods are going through rapid changes as Chinatown sees a major population increase and the Leather district expands due to the thriving businesses in the area. Tufts is adapting too as it opens its first Gross Anatomy Lab in the basement of the M&V Building along Harrison Ave. This 7,700 SF lab gives medical students the ability to study the human body on a macroscopic level each semester for the next 68 years.

The year is 2018 – The surrounding neighborhoods have seen dramatic changes and so has the School of Medicine campus. Tufts now occupies a four building, 130,000 sq. ft. facility called the Biomedical Research and Public Health complex. These buildings originally built between 1916 and 1929 are now mostly labs and support spaces for medical and biomedical science students.

The start of the New Year marks the opening for the School of Medicine’s new Gross Anatomy Lab on the third floor of the M&V building. Designed by PAYETTE, this new lab is twice the size of the previous lab and will serve twice the number of students.

Punching through the existing slab, a new terrazzo stair opens up the ground floor and provides a connection to Levels 2 and 3 in the M&V building. A new dedicated air handling unit installed on the roof will give a constant cycle of fresh air into the lab.

The integration of state of the art audio-visual technology will give these students a more efficient and effective learning experience. The breakout space will now give students a place to relax, read or eat lunch between their classes.

With the ability to adapt to emerging technology, hopefully this new Gross Anatomy Lab will last another 60+ years.

Photo Credit: Keitaro Yoshioka