In episode 173 of Detailed, an ARCAT original podcast, Principal Kent Suhrbier, FAIA, LEED AP, joined host Cherise Lakeside, FCSI, CDT, to discuss the design and construction of Carnegie Mellon University’s Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics. Suhrbier shared how the team collaborated during the pandemic, consolidated multiple programs into one building while also integrating a historic structure, and overcame site challenges, including potential flooding. CMU Assistant Vice President and University Architect Bob Reppe also shared his insights from the University’s perspective.

The Highmark Center needed to balance the interconnectivity of diverse and often contrasting departments while creating healthy, flexible, private, and safe spaces for student services. For Suhrbier, the planning process was about “embracing the complexity,” recalling the phrase “taming complexity” used by his design mentor Joe Ballay, CMU Emeritus Professor of Design. The integration of 24,000 GSF of the Skibo Gymnasium transformed a challenging yet prominent gateway site on the southern edge of campus. “It’s a very public building, and at the same time, it is one of our most private buildings,” noted Reppe. “It’s doing a lot of hard work in multiple scenarios, so I’m very proud of that.”

The LEED Gold Highmark Center caps a 15-year planning process that brought together stakeholders from across the university – from health and psychological services to wellness, spirituality, and athletics. Its thoughtful planning responds to the pressures faced by students as they navigate academic life and the world after graduation and provides the CMU community with a hub for wellbeing.

Cherise Lakeside is a senior specification writer at RDH Building Science in Portland, Oregon. She has extensive experience collaborating with project teams and is an active member of several organizations as well as a CSI Fellow. Listen to the episode below.