p r o j e c t Cullen c l i e n t Baylor
Eye Institute, Houston
College of Medicine
a r c h i t e c t Kirksey d e s i g n t e a m David
McLemore, AIA; Will Turner; Bob Inaba, AIA;
Avian Caruso, AIA; Susan Musngi; Sophia Malik, AIA c o n t r a c t o r Tellepsen c o n s u l t a n t s Haynes
Builders
Whaley Associates (structural); Smith Seck-
man Reid (MEPF); The Office of James Burnett (landscape); Walter P Moore (civil); Mazzetti Nash Lipsey Burch (medical equipment); Marasco & Associates (ophthalmic) p h o t o g r a p h e r Aker/Zvonkovic
r e s o u r c e s concrete color : Touchstone Decorative Concrete Products; cast stone : Stone Castle Industries; laminates : Wilsonart International
(Century Millwork); wall protection : Griesenbeck Architectural Products; metal screen panels : MBCI; composite metal panels, auto slide doors, glass , glazed curtainwall : Oldcastle Glass Engineered Products; stone floors :
Stone Marketing International;
flooring :
McCoy Workplace
Solutions; aluminum canopies : AVADEK; exterior floor mat: Construction Specialties (Glaze & Associates); shades and blinds : Architectural Fabric Systems; furniture : Steelcase (McCoy Workplace Solutions)
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The new Cullen Eye Institute in the Medical Building of Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center combines multiple adult ophthalmology subspecialties under one roof. Dr. Dan B. Jones, chair of the Ophthalmology Department at Baylor, recognized the need to consolidate the existing adult ophthalmology practice into a single building on the new McNair Campus. The 165,000-sf, six-story building, completed in Fall of 2008, orients itself towards the future Baylor clinic and hospital, designed by HOK, that is currently under construction to the south of the Eye Institute. Kirksey, the architect of the Eye Institute, worked with the landscape architect, The Office of James Burnett, to visually connect the building towards the Baylor campus and developed a rich landscaped space between the two. The initial landscape schemes were reduced considerably in the construction phase but the strong visual connection remains. The design team also worked with Baylor’s staff arborist to test several parking and patient drop-off schemes to find the best way to work around the healthy live oaks that existed on the site. The building is wrapped on all sides by glass—the façade is more typical of an office building than a hospital or medical building where patient privacy typically dictates a solid wall with punched openings for windows. The final floor plan diagram and placement of the programmatic functions helped balance the conflicting desire for patient privacy while also allowing for abundant daylighting within the public spaces and views to the trees and the campus beyond.
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