UC Denver’s Anschutz Health and Wellness Center Breaks Ground

AURORA, Colo. — Cannon Design, an internationally recognized architectural, engineering and planning firm, is pleased to announce that construction on the new 94,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Anschutz Health and Wellness Center has begun. The Center will serve as a gateway to the University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus (AMC). Cannon Design is working in association with H+L Architecture.

The four-story Health and Wellness Center, scheduled for completion Spring 2012, is designed to foster a new culture of sustainable healthy lifestyles and disease prevention on campus, with research and care focusing on alternative and complementary medicines, holistic wellness, weight management and nutrition.

“It will certainly raise the bar above what you would find in a typical health and wellness center,” notes James Ellis, Director of Operations for the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine’s Health and Wellness Center and the Center for Human Nutrition.

A dynamic nutrition lab and bistro anchors the ground floor. The two-story volume of the fitness area is articulated through a transparent expression on the north façade that will project an active image to the campus and community. The fitness center will feature state-of-the-art exercise equipment and technology, with amenities that include a warm-water therapy pool, steam room, sauna, whirlpool, running/walking track, demonstration kitchen and exercise studios.

A third second floor clinical trials center will take advantage of overlap relationships to the fitness lab, classrooms and offices located on the third and fourth floors. A fourth third floor holistic wellness lounge, adjacent to a roof garden featuring mountain views of Colorado, will support all programs.

Dr. James Hill, Executive Director for the new facility, calls the Center a new paradigm in health promotion.  “Designed to house leading researchers and clinicians under one roof in an environment rich in collaboration and synergies, the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center will help forge a new path to a healthier Colorado and a healthier nation,” adds Hill. 

Cannon Design is an Ideas Based Practice, ranked among the leading international firms in planning and design for healthcare, research, education, corporate, sports and government clients.  At present, the firm employs a staff of over 1,000, delivering services in 17 offices throughout North America, as well as abroad in Shanghai, China, and Mumbai, India. For more information, visit www.cannondesign.com.