Creighton University Breaks Ground on New Health Sciences Building

May 05, 2021
Architecture College & University Health Science Education

RDG Planning & Design will collaborate on design for the CL Werner Center for Health Sciences, a world-class medical school facility located on Creighton’s Omaha, Nebraska campus.

Creighton University broke ground on a new, $75 million health sciences education building on its Omaha, Nebraska campus. The facility will be named the CL Werner Center for Health Sciences Education, in honor of donors CL and Rachel Werner, and will house programs in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy and other disciplines. RDG Planning & Design will lead the design for the Center, marking the third collaboration between the two organizations following award-winning designs for the School of Dentistry in Omaha and the Health Sciences Campus in Phoenix.

Located south of Cuming Street and east of U.S. Highway 75 on what is now a faculty-staff parking lot, the Military Science Building and Center for Health Policy and Ethics Building, the CL Werner Center for Health Sciences Education will incorporate state-of-the-art learning spaces to prepare the next generation of multidisciplinary health care teams. Once complete, the center will help define the Omaha campus as a cutting-edge health sciences education destination for interprofessional education and practice.

“At the core of Creighton’s education is the concept of ‘Cura Personalis,’ or the care of the whole person. Our longstanding collaborative design with the University is rooted in this idea, and we’ll continue working with Creighton to infuse it into the design of the CL Werner Center for Health Sciences Education. The new Center will truly be unmatched in the region in its ability to prepare the next generation of best-prepared, practice-ready healthcare professionals,” said RDG Partner and Architect Brian Halsey, AIA, LEED AP.

Creighton’s continuous investment in the expansion of its medical education facilities and programs positions the University as the nation’s largest Catholic health professions educator. The new 130,000-SF facility will feature a centralized interdisciplinary simulation center and active group classrooms, bringing together students to train and learn with and from each other. Creighton expects to break ground on the CL Werner Center for Health Sciences Education in late summer 2021, and the building is scheduled to be completed for the start of the fall 2023 semester.

Read more about the plans and design for the CL Werner Center for Health Sciences Education in the Omaha World-Herald (may require subscription).

Written by Erin Van Zee, Communications Director