Fresh renderings: Emory breaks ground on medical complex overlooking park

The growth of Emory University’s medical campus continues.

Emory officials announced Wednesday that crews had broken ground on the school’s second Druid Hills Health Sciences Research Building.

Funded in part by a $400 million gift from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation—half of that is helping fund Emory’s under-construction cancer facility in Midtown—the project is expected to ascend six stories above ground with two floors below.

It would stand on Haygood Drive, neighboring Health Sciences Research Building I and Druid Hills High School, near PATH’s recently expanded South Peachtree Creek Trail.

The facility is slated to offer more than 346,000 square feet of research space for imaging sciences, child health (including cancer), biomedical engineering, cardiovascular medicine, adult cancer, emerging infections, and other programs.

The new facility is also anticipated to feature an “innovation zone,” where startups and entrepreneurs can hone their craft.

The building’s design caters to environmental sustainability efforts by way of sensor-controlled lighting, automated shades “for limiting heat gain and glare control,” and solar panels, officials announced this week.

Also, expect a green rooftop plaza facing Emory’s Lullwater Preserve, among other green elements that could help the institution secure LEED Gold Certification after construction wraps. Design efforts are spearheaded by global firm HOK.

Construction is expected to finish in April 2022.