The new clinic, to be built on North Forest Parkway in College Station by physicians Garth Morgan and John Hall, will replace their current facility, the Osler Boulevard Family Practice Center. The physicians plan to provide ideas generated by the students to the architects who will develop the final design.

“This studio project was truly an interdisciplinary effort, incorporating input from the various disciplines represented in the College of Architecture into both design and construction solutions,” said George J. Mann, the Ronald L. Skaggs Endowed Professor of Health Facility Design and leader of the design studio.

To complete the project — which features 36 proposed designs — Mann's students worked closely with their clients and faculty advisers. They visited the current clinic and other family practice clinics in the area, analyzed the construction site, developed an efficient space program, and prepared schematic plans, sketches and models that will be presented Friday afternoon.

The students were also assisted by representatives from the city of College Station who advised them on environmental concerns and site planning issues.

“By exposing architecture students to the process of working with a client, they learn the art of listening and being responsive,” said Mann. “Their attentiveness is reflected in their solutions which incorporate elements conducive to good health, like natural lighting and indoor and outdoor gardens, while facilitating modern medical practices, such as the use of electronic medical records.”

“Since its inception in 1966, the architecture-for-health program at Texas A&M University has focused on case study approaches to health facility design that allow students to work on real projects, with actual clients and budgets,” Mann explained. “Through its interdisciplinary approach to problem solving, the program encourages students to work with doctors and allied health professionals as well as experts in all of the built environment professions.”

So far, Mann said, the Texas A&M students have tackled over 500 architecture-for-health projects for a variety of clients and organizations at locations around the world.