Editor's Note: Photographs available upon request.

December 5, 2006

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — The newly completed UC Davis Health System Education Building and F. William Blaisdell, M.D., Medical Library facility has been named the “best higher education project” of 2006 in Northern California by California Construction Magazine. The publication selected 25 projects statewide for its Best of 2006 awards. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in San Francisco Dec. 6.

“The vision for our new facility was inspired by the underlying need to create a central destination that physically and symbolically serves as the hub of UC Davis Health System educational facilities on the Sacramento campus,” said Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences at UC Davis and dean of the School of Medicine. “The design of the building is both beautiful and functional, and we are pleased it was selected among the best in the state.”

The $46.2 million, 121,000-square-foot education and library building, to be dedicated by university officials Dec. 11, is the new home for UC Davis medical students. Located at the corner of 45th and X streets, it serves as a distinct gateway to the 140-acre Sacramento campus.

The state-of-the-art building is intended as a place where students, faculty, medical staff and visitors can engage in academic exchange, health-care research and clinical practice. It includes two 150-seat auditoriums, a 60-seat lecture hall, an advanced medical library, a clinical skills area with mock exam rooms, high-tech instructional and professional simulation spaces, and a student commons.

Carrier Johnson, one of California's leading architecture and interior design firms, designed the project. Sundt Corp., an international construction firm, served as the general contractor.

California Construction Magazine selected UC Davis' new building as one of its 2006 Best of California award winners out of a field of more than 100 entries. Professionals from many facets of the construction industry made the selection based on quality and evidence of teamwork.

UC Davis Health System is an integrated, academic health system encompassing UC Davis School of Medicine, the 577-bed acute-care hospital and clinical services of UC Davis Medical Center, and the 800-member physician group known as UC Davis Medical Group.