BNIM Architects: Nurture - Softcover

This is a detailed analytical record of the design and structure of the School of Nursing and Student Community Center at the University of Texas in Houston. Designed by BNIM Architects in collaboration with Lake/Flato, the focus of the design concentrated on issues such as daylighting, visual acuity and cognitive learning, pedagogy and learning capacities, flexibility, durability and reduced operating costs. Each aspect of the building, including the exterior envelope, has inextricable relationships with the building systems, and this complex web of interrelationships is explored in six categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation and design. An essential publication for anyone interested in sustainable design.

Seventeen firms collaborated with an equally large client group - the School of Nursing, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the Office of Facility Planning and Construction - in seeking a design response to the high aspirations and goals for this project. Every user and client perspective and each design discipline shaped the design throughout the entire process.