Award-winning interdisciplinary firm Ayers Saint Gross’ design for The University of North Carolina’s Carrington Hall recently broke ground, supporting UNC’s mission to provide a world-class center of teaching, research, and service for nursing students.
Partnering with UNC’s School of Nursing and local firm Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Ayers Saint Gross developed a renewed facility for the school’s top ranked program that will foster the careers of generations of nursing leaders.
Organized around the guiding themes of UNC’s Strategic Plan—Connect, Hub, and Welcome—Ayers Saint Gross’s design accommodates the needs of today’s and future students. Programmed spaces include an EISLE (Education Innovation Simulation Learning Environment) setting, research areas, classrooms, offices, support spaces and ample student and common zones. The building also frames a new shared health sciences plaza for the school, creating an outdoor collaboration area for learning sessions, gatherings and events.
As the home of Carolina Nursing, the project also integrates the latest technologies to best prepare students for the changing nursing landscape. The renewed Carrington Hall serves as a site for collaboration and idea-sharing between medical and health science disciplines and the larger student body.
“Partnering with The University of North Carolina from advanced planning through design made it so clear why Carolina Nursing is a top ranked program,” says Laura White, Health Education Principal at Ayers Saint Gross. “Collaborating closely with UNC’s visionary leadership and staff allowed Ayers Saint Gross to create a renewed Carrington Hall that is a dynamic hub for the next generation of nurse leaders, clinicians, and researchers. The new building expresses the school’s mission through its design and is filled with the best technologies and tools to foster collaboration and spark curiosity.”
A design that matters
Named for Elizabeth Scott Carrington, a nurse and philanthropist, Carrington Hall has served as the home for the University of North Carolina’s School of Nursing since 1969. Faced with an aging building and the growing demands of an evolving nursing pedagogy, UNC engaged Ayers Saint Gross and Little Diversified Architectural Consulting to imagine a comprehensive renovation and addition to Carrington Hall.
Located within the prominent health science precinct with the schools of medicine, pharmacy, public health, and dentistry, the renewal of Carrington Hall represents an ideal opportunity to facilitate collaboration and convergence between the existing health science community, the School of Nursing and the rest of campus.
The site frames a new front yard for the school and a shared outdoor collaboration area between Bondurant Hall and the new Medical Education Building, providing ample space for outdoor learning sessions, gatherings, and events.
The final design seamlessly connects the existing hall and the addition, utilizing its setback to create an iconic entry sequence. Organized around the guiding themes of UNC’s Strategic Plan—Connect, Hub, and Welcome—the building’s program is designed to increase user flexibility. Programmed spaces include EISLE (Education Innovation Simulation Learning Environment), research, classrooms, offices, support spaces, and ample student and common space.
