UC Davis Welcomes Leading-Edge Eye Institute

By HCO Staff

DAVIS, Calif.—HGA recently announced the completion of a leading-edge healthcare project—UC Davis Health’s new state-of-the-art Eye Institute designed by HGA in partnership with TEF.

The Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute Building is a carefully balanced integration of a partial renovation of the existing Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) with a major new addition. The resulting 78,500-square-foot building reserves a floor of clinics for general medical center use, as an expansion of the ACC, and includes 64,160 square feet of space dedicated to Eye Center operations, including physician offices and conference areas. UC Davis announcement here as well for reference.

The project was launched with a substantial gift from Ernest E. Tschannen, who had his sight restored by a clinician from the center. The endeavor was delivered under a design-build model led by McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and supported by Vanir Construction Management.

The team of designers and consultants included architect Chris Downey, who lost his sight in 2008 and has since dedicated his career to enriching the environment for the vision impaired. Downey’s insights were key to the implementation of empathic design principles, and the resulting patient-focused design for the new Eye Center offers a comfortable and intuitive experience for all.

The building provides the Eye Center’s leading vision scientists—100 percent of whom are funded by the National Eye Institute—the ability to increase capacity for clinical trials by 50 percent.