Roper Hall is the new home for the growing School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a central hub where medical students learn, study, gather and socialize.

The 176,000-sq-ft, nine-story structure features a two-story, 240-seat active learning theater and spaces for flexible labs, classrooms, studying, collaboration, clinical skill learning and simulated learning.

Planning for zero interruptions to neighboring campus buildings just 20 ft away, TA Loving returned to the site where it constructed Berryhill Hall 55 years earlier to replace it with the cutting-edge Roper Hall.

The tight site meant no wrecking ball or implosion, leaving the project team to shore the foundation of a neighboring building and use an excavator with a mechanical high reach crunching arm to chew down the building and limit flying debris. It also meant a non-orthogonal form for the building, which the project team says was a direct response to the complex site and significant grade change. That shape maximizes green spaces and facilitates clear pathways, including an exterior staircase.

Photo by Edward Caruso Photography

Constructed on a sloping site with 18 ft of elevation change between the east and west entrances, the building sits at the intersection of two major campus pedestrian routes. Designed around the theme “Mountains to Sea,” Roper Hall draws inspiration from the hiking trail of the same name that connects North Carolina’s coastal region in the east with the state’s mountainous western edge.

Exterior materials were chosen to harmonize with surrounding structures, while interior finishes include natural walnut paneling and terrazzo flooring with embedded seashells.

The main lobby forms a crossroads, extending seamlessly to external terraces, greenspaces and a café, all to connect health professionals across the medical campus community that’s home to six hospitals.

Sustainable design features include high-efficiency heating, cooling and lighting systems and low-flow fixtures as well as stormwater and condensate harvesting. Its cooling and air handling systems enable it to use 30% less energy and 40% less water than similar structures.

Photo by Edward Caruso Photography

The main mechanical room in the lower level of the building required extensive preplanning to house an air handler so large it needed to be set early. A watertight shelter was constructed to protect it from the elements as the remaining structure was dried in.

The active learning theater utilizes passive chilled beams above a wood slat ceiling for cooling, while warm air rising from below is cooled via convective heat transfer over 57° F chilled water coils, generating cool columns of air. Flexible education spaces include anatomy and microbiology labs fitted with switchable air change rates allowing 25 air changes per hour in anatomy mode and 6 changes in microbiology mode.

The design-bid-build project was delivered in 38 months, with only two months added to the project timeline for a full build-out of the seventh floor added by the owner midway through construction. The team’s collaboration on sitework, logistics and infrastructure was crucial for the project’s success.