Architect: Polshek Partnership, New York City; interiors by Ballinger, Philadelphia
Multimedia, IT, acoustics: Shen Milsom & Wilke
Size: 330,000 square feet
Completion: January 2007

The new Weill Greenberg Center is the first building in a new state-of-the-art campus for this prestigious medical school. In addition to housing the most advanced clinical facilities for departments such as Dermatology, Hypertension, ENT, IVF and Cardiology, the 15-story structure provides a central medical conference center and physician training.

Shen Milsom & Wilke’s involvement included IT infrastructure and multimedia to support the Center’s Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE), an immersive setting in which students and researchers interact with the molecules they are studying. Images generated from high-speed computers built by Silicon Graphics and IBM are projected onto three walls and the floor. Students wear goggles and sensors that will sense student eye and body movement. The computers will then adjust the graphics displayed in reaction to the student activity.

Shen Milsom & Wilke also designed the recording systems for the Clinical Skills Assessment Center, which is used to evaluate medical school students. Actors pose as patients and present symptoms to the medical students. The interaction between the two, student and patient, is recorded with cameras and microphones in each exam room. These sounds and images are recorded digitally and stored on the school’s video servers.

Instructors access the students’ recorded interactions from their offices, homes, or anywhere in the world in order to review them. Shen Milson & Wilke worked with the project team on the selection of proper interior finishes for all spaces equipped with advanced audiovisual systems to insure optimized performance.

The IT infrastructure is designed to meet day-one occupancy requirements, while supporting future growth and change. Both wired and wireless connectivity are provided throughout the facility.

Acoustical challenges included isolating the two Tesla MRIs from the surrounding spaces. Offices, lecture halls and learning facilities needed to be shielded from traffic noise.

More Projects >