New Construction

LSU Health Shreveport, Perkins&Will to Collaborate on Dual Projects

• By Matt Jones
• 09/22/22

LSU Health Shreveport and the Houston Studio of architecture and design firm Perkins&Will have announced design details about two upcoming projects for the academic medical center located in Shreveport, La.

The Center for Medical Education will serve as a student-focused academic, teaching and research building. The Center for Emerging Viral Threats (CEVT) will be an advanced lab facility with a separate entrance on the third floor but also accessible through the Center for Medical Education, according to a news release. Construction on both is scheduled for completion by fall 2023 and to open their doors to students in time for the 2023–24 academic year.

The dual construction project is LSU Health Shreveport’s first new construction project in more than ten years and will help address the shortage of healthcare providers in the state of Louisiana. The new space will help centralize and unite LSU Health Shreveport’s three schools: the School of Medicine, the School of Allied Health Professions, and the School of Graduate Studies. The Center for Medical Education is intended to attract and engage both medical students and faculty from around the U.S. and around the world.

The center will include large classroom spaces, clinical skills labs, and simulation suites. Active learning classrooms will include tiered seating for 250 and come equipped with advanced AV technology. A 500-seat auditorium with an “in-the-round” layout will offer students the opportunity for engagement and increased immersion. Education spaces will include standardized patient exam rooms for live clinical simulations and training; clinical skills labs; and simulation training classrooms.

It will also feature student amenities like fitness spaces, meditation rooms, cooking and nutrition classes, a multi-activity center, and group gathering spaces.

The CEVT will occupy a prominent space within the Center for Medical Education Building and will focus on addressing current and future viral threats. Initial lab space will include amenities for bacteriology, clinical pathology, serology, and virology components, with room to expand to meet the needs of emerging research and trends.

According to the news release, CEVT lab features will include “Biological Safety Level (BSL) 2 and 3 laboratory space for the study and diagnosis of pathogens and various risk levels; Facilities to perform studies using small animal models for Risk Group 2 and 3 pathogens; [and] the BSL-3 facility will allow for the study and diagnosis of high-consequence diseases that can be transmitted via aerosol with no treatment or vaccine available.”