RDG in the Media: A Regenerative College Campus from the Ground Up
AIA Architect features Des Moines University and how RDG's design has successfully done more with less.
In 2019, Des Moines University (DMU) announced the decision to upgrade its campus with plans to relocate the entire private health sciences school to an 88-acre plot in West Des Moines, Iowa. DMU’s leadership desired to operate within a regenerative campus that prioritized resource conservation, energy efficiency and responsible stewardship — all while expanding the student body and reducing the school’s built footprint. In the latest issue of AIA Architect, RDG’s Mike Houston and Benjamin Kroll, AIA, as well as NV5’s Kelly Stumpf, PMP share how the design team created efficiencies for the Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences Campus.
When discussing why DMU decided against renovating its existing space, Houston notes that retrofitting the current location would have resulted in a piecemeal, rather than a cohesive solution, while creating a disruptive environment for the students. To design the new campus to adapt with the times and needs of the university, RDG sought to produce a “multi-generational campus.”
The resulting design encompasses four buildings arranged along tight-knit, intersecting axes resembling a lowercase “y.” Kroll says the choice to configure the building in this manner was “about creating a density with the architecture, which allowed for a multitude of efficiencies when moving between buildings.” He notes that you can walk through the entire campus and know where you are in relation to the other buildings. Students now refer to DMU as “the building,” speaking to the interconnectedness of the design.
RDG’s design for the dense and linear approach to campus planning speaks to DMU’s “holistic approach to sustainability.” The campus has obtained LEED Silver certification for all four buildings and is slated to become its largest combined LEED- and WELL-certified project.