The new 105,000 sf addition to Scaife Hall at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine recently celebrated a major milestone with its topping off ceremony. Guests at the ceremony included leadership from UPMC and the School of Medicine as well as faculty, staff and students.
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The existing building is an inward, isolated teaching environment with minimal student space or views to the outside. The new addition provides a variety of student spaces and brings daylight into the building. Program spaces include a 2,900 sf gross anatomy lab for 156 students, a series of large classrooms, small group rooms and wet and dry teaching labs. A major challenge was the client wanted a space that could accommodate the entire student body. The design solution is a 600-person auditorium with an operable partition which allows for two 250-person classrooms when the auditorium is not in use.
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The new addition is scheduled to open in August 2022.