The Hursey Center at the University of Hartford represents a groundbreaking approach to educational architecture, designed by renowned architectural firm Payette to bridge the traditionally separate disciplines of engineering and health sciences. This innovative 59,000-square-foot facility, completed in 2021, stands as a physical embodiment of interdisciplinary learning, strategically positioned at the heart of the university's beautifully landscaped campus.

The building's revolutionary concept anticipates a future where engineers design life-improving inventions such as prosthetics that enhance human health, while discoveries in tissue engineering and medical implants are directly integrated into nursing education and simulation programs. The Hursey Center makes this vision tangible by placing student projects and hands-on learning experiences in a central, highly visible location that encourages collaboration across disciplines.

Driven by the University of Hartford's ambitious goal to create a destination and activity hub at the center of its picturesque campus, the Hursey Center occupies a prominent position in the middle of the main academic green. This unconventional placement serves dual purposes: it gives the new building symbolic significance that aligns with the client's project objectives, and it fundamentally recalibrates the scale and character of the campus by improving its spatial structure and hierarchy.

The building's architectural form is deliberately understated yet sophisticated. Designed as a four-sided irregular polygon in plan, the Hursey Center's massing is intentionally quiet and subtle. While the structure is unmistakably an independent architectural statement—a freestanding object that operates outside the rules governing the existing perimeter buildings—it carefully avoids creating jarring contrasts with its surroundings.

From the southern approach, where the building's footprint is at its widest, the structure presents a large, low-profile roof that is gently sloped and planted with vegetation, effectively suggesting a continuation of the campus green. This innovative roofing system combines the benefits of both intensive and extensive green roof technologies, creating what the architects term a 'comprehensive' green roof solution.

On the building's northern elevation, the architectural character shifts dramatically. Here, the structure becomes narrower and unexpectedly tall, with its lower level emerging organically from a carefully landscaped slope. The building is clad in sophisticated grey polished porcelain panels that create taut, reflective surfaces mirroring both the sky above and the campus environment below.

The interior environment presents a striking contrast to the building's restrained exterior. Inside, the Hursey Center offers a visually dynamic and architecturally complex experience. The building's organization centers around a dramatic multistory, skylit central space that the architects have dubbed 'the Street'—conceived as an interior extension of the campus's primary pedestrian circulation route.

This central spine connects the building's upper and lower campus entrances while serving as the organizational heart of the facility. Within the Street, an intricate network of lobbies, bridges, overlooks, and strategic floor openings provides unobstructed sightlines into the instructional, research, and meeting spaces flanking either side of the central circulation zone.

To maximize the visual impact of this experience, the interior program spaces are strategically stepped in plan, ensuring that each area benefits from full-height corner windows that flood the spaces with natural light. The result is a highly graphic architectural composition that plays with opposing qualities: projecting versus recessive corners, transparency against opacity, lightness contrasted with darkness, interior spaces flowing into exterior views, and orthogonal elements intersecting with diagonal lines.

This carefully orchestrated interplay of architectural elements invites both occupants and visitors to fully immerse themselves in the building's inner life, creating spontaneous opportunities for interdisciplinary interaction and collaboration. The interior material palette reflects the building's commitment to sustainability and aesthetic sophistication, incorporating cork flooring produced from waste materials left over from wine stopper production, tectum acoustic panels, elegant glass and solid surface guardrails and stair enclosures, rich oak veneer doors and transoms, and polished concrete flooring that provides both durability and visual appeal.

The Hursey Center demonstrates exceptional commitment to environmental sustainability through an impressive array of passive design strategies and energy-efficient building systems. The mechanical systems include state-of-the-art hydronic fan coil units paired with high-efficiency air-cooled chillers that significantly reduce energy consumption compared to conventional HVAC systems.

The building's lighting design is entirely LED-based and incorporates sophisticated daylight harvesting and occupancy control systems that automatically adjust illumination levels based on natural light availability and space usage patterns. This intelligent lighting system not only reduces energy consumption but also creates optimal learning and working environments throughout the day.

The building's innovative green roof system extends five inches deep and possesses the capacity to absorb rainwater equivalent to a typical eight-inch stormwater management system. This remarkable feature helps prevent floods, system overflows, and other water-related infrastructure issues while providing natural insulation and habitat creation.

Each facade of the Hursey Center has been carefully designed to respond to specific considerations including solar orientation, internal programmatic requirements, and site-specific contextual factors. This thoughtful approach ensures optimal daylighting, energy performance, and visual connections between interior and exterior spaces.

The project was led by an accomplished design team including Sarah Gewerz, Mark Bandzak, and Tom Simister, with significant contributions from Luke Laverty, Laura Devine, Josh Aaronson, Dane Clark, and Mary Gallagher. The technical expertise was provided by Mike Quinn, while Peter Vieira and Jeff DeGregorio served as office lead architects.

The engineering and consulting team brought together specialists from multiple disciplines: Rist Frost Shumway provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering; Goldstein Milano handled structural engineering; Freeman Companies managed civil engineering; Available Light created the sophisticated lighting design; and additional consulting was provided by Howe Engineers and ACT Associates.

Key manufacturers and suppliers contributing to the project's success included CTS Cement, Carlisle SynTec, Corian, New England Laboratory Casework, Oldcastle Building Envelope, Panneaux 3D, Porcelanosa Grupo, Preferred Precast, Spinneybeck, Tarkett/Johnsonite, and Wausau Tiles.

The architectural photography, masterfully captured by Robert Benson, reveals the building's sophisticated interplay of materials, light, and space, documenting how the Hursey Center successfully creates an environment that encourages the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration that will define the future of education in engineering and health sciences.

This remarkable facility stands as a testament to the power of thoughtful architectural design to support and inspire educational innovation, creating spaces where the boundaries between traditional academic disciplines can dissolve in service of solving complex real-world challenges.