The new integrated wellness center at the College of William & Mary has won the Sustainability Advancement Award. This comes as part of the 2020 Premiere Design Awards program by IIDA’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter.

The $13M, 32,000 SF, LEED Gold project encompasses a multitude of uses including health promotion, counseling center, recreational wellness programming, and more.

The new facility houses a variety of resources and specialty rooms including a triage and procedure room, injection room, isolation room, exams rooms, soundproof counseling rooms, and additional classrooms. Students are provided a designated space for quiet and reflective activities within the Center for Mindfulness and Authentic Excellence through special meditation alcoves. 

The McLeod Tyler Wellness Center was designed to integrate different dimensions of wellness including emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual. South facing views of the building’s surrounding natural landscape provide visitors a peaceful environment to seek stress relief while encouraging sustainable life-habits. The building embodies the key traits of wellness by presenting itself as holistic, positive, and inclusive. 

The building’s outdoor features include a meditation labyrinth, life-size Zen garden and social wellness patio equipped with Adirondack chairs. Inspired by the university’s role in the Charter for Compassionate Schools, a compassion garden with large rocks where students may sit and interact was installed in the front of the building.

Henry Adams provided the MEP engineering design harmonious with the building’s atmosphere of healing. Many areas of the wellness center focus on promoting sustainability, therefore it was crucial for to blend cutting-edge technologies into the MEP systems. In order to achieve LEED certification, the MEP engineering designs incorporated energy efficient electrical systems, environmentally friendly climate control appliances, and ecologically safe materials.

Henry Adams’ MEP engineering team made it a goal to provide integrated sustainable design concepts while maintaining the building’s multi-dimensionality. The opening of the McLeod Tyler Wellness Center served as a step in the right direction towards improving interpersonal well-being and a greater student experience overall.