Honors and awards  |  Population Health  |  Public Health  |  UW Notebook

December 3, 2021

Hans Rosling Center wins state, national architectural design and project awards

The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health has won top awards in 2021 from state and national design and construction associations for both its architectural design and unique project delivery approach. The building was designed by The Miller Hull Partnership and the general contractor was Lease Crutcher Lewis.

• The Design Build Institute of America in November gave the Rosling Center its Award of Excellence in the Education Building category, the award for Best in Design and the culminating Project of the Year Award
• The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design gave UW’s building the American Architecture 2021 Award
• The Associated General Contractors of Washington gave the Rosling Center its award for construction excellence in the Public Project over $100 million category
• And, the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Architects gave the center one of four Awards of Merit

The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health was made possible by a $210 million gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in October 2016 and $15 million in earmarked funding from the Washington Legislature, as well as funding from the university. The center opened to the public in the fall of 2021 and is home to the Department of Global Health, the Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), parts of the School of Public Health and the offices of the Population Health Initiative.

The center is a direct result of the UW’s Population Health Initiative, an interdisciplinary effort across the university to bring understanding and solutions to the biggest health challenges

facing communities here in the Pacific Northwest, the U.S. and around the world.

“The design for the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health draws its inspiration from the Population Health Initiative itself, with a focus on the health and wellness of its inhabitants as well as on global health issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, water preservation and material toxicity,” said Whitney Pearce, an architect and project manager with Miller Hull.

The design optimizes opportunities for connection and collaboration among the building inhabitants, with program elements that support active, healthy lifestyles and workspaces that encourage working together, Pearce explained, adding that art and storytelling elements are integrated throughout the facility. These elements speak to the mission of both the building and the occupants, creating opportunities for education and inspiration.

The building project also achieved LEED Gold Certification through a number of sustainable building systems such as rainwater catchment and reuse for flushing bathroom fixtures, increased ventilation rates for improved indoor air quality, heat recovery from the West Campus Utility Plant for heating, as well as highly efficient radiant heating and cooling made possible by high-performance window and wall assemblies.

“We’re delighted the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health was recognized with these well-deserved honors,” said Ali Mokdad, the university’s chief strategy officer for population health and professor of health metrics sciences at IHME. “The intentional design of this building is going to be transformational to the university’s efforts to spur interdisciplinary collaboration to address some of the big challenges we face to our collective health and well-being.”

Tag(s): Ali Mokdad • Hans Rosling Center for Population Health • Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation • Population Health Initiative

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