Green Level Road Medical Office Building
Cary, NC
Client
Size
Completion Date
Architect
Our role
Duke Health
100,000 square feet
2022
Perkins&Will
Kenneth Luker served as Design Principal and Foad Faizi served as Lead Designer during previous association with Perkins&Will.
All photographs © Susan Holt Photography unless otherwise indicated.
As the first building for a new health and wellness campus, this Medical Office Building was challenged with establishing the campuswide design standards and brand identity for its developer, Duke Health. The client had a well-established brand identity at its main campus inspired by the University Gothic aesthetic of Duke University. The design team was asked to create a fresh interpretation of this aesthetic that would be appropriate to the new, suburban location and scalable to future campus buildings, including a hotel and hospital. Duke Health plans to occupy only a portion of this initial building so the design of the core and shell had to consider multiple tenant scenarios on each of the four floors.
The design team positioned the building close to the main roadway to establish a strong brand presence and support its role as a ‘gateway’ for the new campus. The design further emphasizes the client’s brand with a thoughtful reinterpretation of the University Gothic aesthetic, emphasizing a light, vertical composition for three upper floors over a heavier base level. The subtle, warm tones of the precast are balanced with wood accents in the curtainwall while a custom ceramic frit on the glass adds texture and improves solar performance of the weather envelope.
To create a more sustainable and pedestrian friendly health campus environment, the design team modified the master plan to utilize structured parking, allowing this first building development to occupy the smaller of two available parcels. The structured parking was then made more discrete by nesting it into the slopping site, permitting the top level to align with the pick-up and drop-off court just outside the primary, ground level entrance.