Kerkorian School of Medicine building will open Fall 2022: Project affiliates promise a world-class education facility equally aesthetic to its cutting-edge technology and sustainability; Private funding hopes set a new standard in the Las Vegas medical district
Nov. 23, 2021 Kerkorian School of Medicine construction team is actively working on site. Photo taken of southeastern view from Shadow Lane by Ana Meza.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Nevada Health and Bioscience Corporation joined together to build an innovative medical campus in the heart of the Las Vegas medical district and it opens Fall 2022.
Faculty and staff will move into the new facilities in Summer 2022. Unfortunately, the construction team will not finish in time for the July 1 start date that summer. Students will slowly transition into the new building during the fall.
The construction and design for the school of medicine required an experienced team with building medical facilities, but also fruitful public works. TSK Architects had already redone the temporary space for the medical school as well as the student union at the university’s home campus. With the help of CO architects, a California firm with experience in design for medical education, the building’s design achieves enviable distinction.
Kerkorian building Nov. 23, 2021, on the right is the construction permit that expires on Aug. 22, 2022, as well as the banner of TSK Architect firm. Photo by Ana Meza.
“UNLV has a vision to be a world class academic health center in the long term that’ll have curriculum at the forefront,” said Robert Hersh, TSK Architects Project Architect. “Having a building like this is sort of like the feature of the campus, it sets the bar for the rest of that campus and hopefully for the medical district in general.”
The new building will launch cutting-edge methods of education including a virtual anatomy lab. Also, most medical schools do not require students to interact with patients until their third year, while Kerkorian’s students already interact with patients in their second year.
“The program here is very different from where I went to school,” said Dr. Oriaku A. Kas-Osoka, UNLV Director of Pediatric Residency Program. “I think that some of the changes that they’re making are really interesting and giving them early exposure to some clinical time. Giving them the ability to have experiences that they might not have at other institutions.”
It will take a while for UNLV to establish itself to the likes of other experienced medical programs, but stakeholders in the community invested greatly into Kerkorian’s success.
“I think that the beauty of the program is that it’s still evolving and well-structured,” Kas-Osoka said. “There’s always a lot of reflection, a lot of evaluation of really looking at what the medical students need. So I think that’s one of the powerful things about being a newer program.”
UNLV foresaw a need for more doctors in community, and it took the initiative to begin the ambitious feat of building a state-of-the-art facility for future students. Since its inauguration one class graduated from the medical program this past spring.
“Even though we won’t be able to be there, for the first class, it’s still symbolic. When we come back we will be able to see Las Vegas thriving,” said Arturo Montes, fourth-year medical student at Kerkorian graduating in spring 2022. “The building will reflect the care that patients are going to receive. I’m excited to come back one day and see how the medical school has changed Las Vegas.”
The Covid-19 pandemic created a need for more health care workers and demanded innovative ideas on how to provide care for many patients within the strained system. The state government temporarily appropriated the school of medicine’s funds due to the state needing to allocate funds to pay for the hindrances of the health crisis.
“It started out being a privately funded building completely, where UNLV was going to manage the project,” Hersh said. “It morphed into a state project, and then it morphed into this with the donor group.”
The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine suffered delays prompting the involvement of private donors Nevada Health and Bioscience Corporation to raise funds for the continuation of the project.
NHBC banner hangs on fence of the Kerkorian worksite it reads "Building the foundation for medical education." Photo by Ana Meza.
“The donor group said listen this is what we would like to do, we want everybody to be on board with it, but we’re going to pay for the building to be built,” Hersh said. “We will make sure that it is a building that satisfies NSHE (Nevada State of Higher Education), UNLV, and meets all of their requirements and then we’re going to lease it back to UNLV for $1 a year until 2030– I think– and ultimately it will revert to UNLV ownership.”
TSK and CO Architects carefully curated every space in the building to fulfill any need that may arise throughout students’ educational journey. Students can conveniently find training facilities on the same floor, as well as single and group study rooms to accommodate varying needs, basically creating a welcoming environment where students tend to spend many long hours. The school’s design previews reveal a beautiful contemporary building with the most stunning grand staircase at the center, reminiscent of the famous Raphael’s “School of Athens” painting.
“The heart of the building when you come in the main entrance is called ‘the forum’ and the idea about that space is that it’s essentially a grand stair and it has stadium seating built into it. In normal everyday use it will just be sort of a gathering space,” Hersh said. “But they can also use it to host events. It also has led screens. They can do presentations, hopefully ‘Ted talks’, lectures, or ceremonies.”
Kerkorian medical school in large lot alongside Valley hospital Nov. 23, 2021. Photo by Ana Meza.
The new facility sits on a 5-acre space and still allows for three additional buildings to the campus. Kerkorian’s School of Medicine however set the bar very high for any future additions to the area. The completed building will not only create a more competitive medical industry in Las Vegas, but it will also change the aesthetic of the decades-old medical district.
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