Designed with health in mind

The soon-to-open Vanderbilt University School of Nursing expansion has the well-being of its occupants at the heart of its design, construction and operation. It is Vanderbilt’s — and Nashville’s — first full building constructed to rigorous WELL Building Standard requirements that consider a structure’s impact on its occupants in the areas of air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. A relatively new initiative, the WELL Building Standard is based on measurable scientific research regarding the connection between human health and the structures in which they work. The performance-based system measures, certifies and monitors building features that affect residents in the built environment.

Vanderbilt’s Campus Planning team worked with Hastings Architecture Associates LLC, which developed the building’s design and plans in conjunction with its green-Studio Sustainability Consulting division, to plan and evaluate how the building would be built to the WELL standards.