Xavier University has finalized the design for its $109 million college of osteopathic medicine, the university released official renderings on Dec. 4, just days before the planned ceremonial groundbreaking on Dec. 6.
National architecture firm Slam Collaborative and Cincinnati-based MSA Design crafted the facility’s design. Messer Construction Co. will complete the construction.
Slam Collaborative, a renowned national firm founded in Connecticut with offices in Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York, served as the architect of record, while Cincinnati-based MSA Design performed local design work.
Project partners
Slam Collaborative specializes in medical facilities design. The firm previously won contracts for designing the Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the University of Iowa, the Fertitta Family College of Medicine at the University of Houston, and buildings at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, the Duke University School of Medicine, and the University of California, Irvine.
The firm also designed the renovation and expansion of Nippert Stadium at the University of Cincinnati, completed in 2015.
Xavier chose Messer Construction, headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, to build the project. Messer is the region’s second-largest general contractor.
MSA Design is a longtime Xavier partner, having worked on the school’s master plan in 2005 and, most recently, the Health United Building, which opened in January 2020.
Messer served as the general contractor for UC Health’s Gardner Neuroscience Institute and UC Health’s emergency department expansion and is currently working on Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s medical office building in Eastgate.
In May 2023, Xavier announced plans to create the nation’s first Jesuit college of medicine. The university hired Dr. Steven Halm as the founding dean and began designing the advanced facility.
“This will be a destination program for aspiring physicians seeking a holistic and patient-centered education, unique wrap-around services, and world-class care,” Xavier President Colleen Hanycz said in a news release.
Xavier’s new college of osteopathic medicine key features
The building will feature a simulation hospital with 16 exam rooms and five flexible simulation rooms, a nearly 200-seat lecture hall, and a 5,600-square-foot meeting hall.
A teaching kitchen will provide students a space to cook, socialize, share recipes, and also hold competitions.
“In a short two years, we will occupy the most beautiful and functional medical school facility ever, bar none,” Halm said. “Most importantly, we will build a unique culture centered on both the Jesuit Catholic education mission and osteopathic principles, creating more for our students, more for their patients, and more for our communities.”
By May, the project’s funding reached $82 million, largely supported by a $50 million anonymous donation made last year.
A feasibility study by consulting firm Tripp Umbach suggests the facility’s construction could support 742 jobs, produce $3.2 million in state and local tax revenue, and generate $125.5 million in immediate economic impact for the state.
Looking forward, a Lightcast Capital analysis predicts the new medical college will generate $548.9 million in total economic impact for Ohio over the next 15 years.
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How does the new $109 Million College of Medicine differ from normal classroom
Medical college buildings differ from normal classroom buildings on university campuses because medical students ordinarily spend most of their waking hours on-site. “They eat, breathe and live in that facility,” Halm said.
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