Commonwealth Medical College’s Medical Sciences Building by HOK New York

Designed by HOK’s New York office, the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton will be the first school of medicine to open in Pennsylvania in over forty years. The school’s 185,000-square-foot Medical Sciences Building broke ground last week and will include a number of sustainable design features, ranging from a graywater system to CO2 sensors, high-performance exterior glazing, locally-sourced stone, and occupancy sensors. The building will accomodate 500 students and 175 faculty; it’s unclear whether the project will seek any third-party green building certification. Construction on the building should wrap up sometime in 2011 and the school expects a decision on its accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education sometime this fall.

• HOK Breaks Ground on Commonwealth Medical College (Contract Magazine)