case study

Elmhurst University

Health Sciences Building | Building Strategy, Planning, and Construction Management

the goals

Give Elmhurst University's health science programs a home that matches their acedemic reputation by providing a purpose-built facility designed to prepare students across a range of health science disciplines for the realities of modern clinical practice.

Project Background

Elmhurst University's health sciences programs had long outgrown their environment. Programs were scattered across campus in spaces not built for clinical simulation, interdisciplnary learnin,g or the demands of contemporary healthcare education.

The original concept called for an addition to an existing building. Working through the planning process together, Momentum and the university's leadership team determined that a new standalone building would better serve the institution's long-term needs, delivering a more efficient footprint, a longer useful life, and a facility thoughtfully designed for healthcare education.

The 45,000-square-foot result consolidates all four health sciences programs under one roof and houses the university's new nursing simulation center, a Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, and the Jans Family Military and Veterans Center. Every element of the building — wider hallways, a gurney-capable elevator, hard flooring throughout — was specified to replicate the environments graduates will work in.

A Collegiate Process

Momentum's process began with extensive stakeholder alignment before design started. Faculty, administrators, and program leaders participated in structured sessions to surface requirements, prioritize needs, and define what success looked like. Site visits to comparable facilities raised the level of ambition. The result was shared clarity — about the program, the budget, and the decisions ahead — that carried through every subsequent phase of the project.

The project targeted LEED Gold from the outset and earned the certification. Momentum partnered with sustainability consultants on a comprehensive environmental strategy, sourcing materials locally where possible, recycling more than 70 percent of construction waste during the build, and designing a rooftop solar array to power the building. The result is a facility that meets the university's ambitions for performance and stewardship: actual energy consumption came in more than 60 percent better than baseline, and over 300 rooftop solar panels generate nearly half the building's energy needs — a system whose cost will be largely recovered through energy savings and incentives within six years.

Cutting-Edge Spaces for Hands-On Learning

Inside, the simulation center gives nursing students access to four high-fidelity patient simulators, an expanded low-fidelity lab with eight practice bays, a home health simulation environment, and a virtual reality lab where faculty-built immersive scenarios let students familiarize themselves with specific clinical settings before their rotations begin.

Having all health sciences programs under one roof supports the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration that healthcare employers increasingly expect from new graduates.
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Momentum Moment

This project began as a renovation and Momentum is proud to have worked with Elmhurst to transform it into something much better. By asking the right questions early — and being willing to follow the answers wherever they led — Elmhurst ended up with a cutting-edge facility to be proud of, built for how health sciences education works today and for years to come.

Elmhurst's leadership said it best: the most important work on this project happened before we picked up a shovel.

“Just getting all the stakeholders together in the room, having a clear idea of what we're building, why we're building it, and knowing what the markers for success were going to be was critical for us." -Kurt Ashley, Vice President for Business and Finance, Elmhurst University