Valdosta State University

Envisioning a dynamic center for collaborative student learning, Valdosta State University in 2006 hired Heery to design a new academic building for health sciences and business administration. The 180,000 SF building located on the university’s North Campus will create a model for health sciences academic facilities by bringing together six academic programs. The college of business administration with a new program in health care management will join health sciences programs in nursing, sports medicine and exercise science, communications disorders, social work, and marriage and family therapy.  The project will provide auditoriums, classrooms, clinical laboratories, meeting/seminar rooms, administrative and faculty offices, as well as areas for interdepartmental collaboration and student-faculty interaction. In addition, the facility will provide students real life training through publicly accessed health care clinics located on the ground floor.

Scheduled for completion in 2013, the four-story Health Sciences and Business Administration Center will be the first new building on Valdosta State University’s North Campus in more than 75 years.

In conjunction with designing the new building, Heery updated the master plan for the North Campus, providing strategic programming and physical planning to help transition the campus toward a cohesive learning, living and working environment.  Along with new academic facilities, housing and dining services and recreational facilities, the new plan provided a phased approach to developing and expanding community and regional partnerships (such as with the South Georgia Medical Center) in order to elevate learning and resources for Valdosta State University students and faculty.