With fewer people on campus last year, Geisel School of Medicine took advantage of its de-densified campus to update classrooms, meeting rooms, and labs to meet contemporary educational needs.
Kellogg Hall reopened in August, in time for Fall classes, and a newly renovated Borwell 3 on the medical school’s Lebanon campus, reopened in October.
Jonathan Stark, Geisel’s director of facilities, whose team managed the project, says a large part of the Borwell renovations involved spaces exclusively used by medical students—the most significant being the construction of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) rooms. Used for the On Doctoring course, the OSCE rooms are designed so students can test their clinical skill performance and competence. “Prior to this, our students did not have access to dedicated OSCE rooms—they used available Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center exam rooms,” Stark says.
The renovation also included a new student gym, lounge, and freezer farm along with new conference rooms with updated audio-video technology, one of which can be used as a classroom.
Using the old gym located above a frequently occupied auditorium in Rubin 4 was impractical, tying hours of operation to the unoccupied auditorium—the new Borwell gym with locker rooms and showers has no such limitations.
Also relocated from its home in Rubin 4, the new student lounge furnished with soft seating, worktables, and a kitchenette is near the gym and conference rooms—creating a modern and welcoming cohesive space for student use.
Photos by Kurt Wehde