Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design

Duda/Paine Architects is done duking it out: they've won the American Institute of Architects annual National Design Award for Health Care for the Duke Integrative Medicine in their hometown of Durham, North Carolina.

Part of the Duke University Health System, the $11 million, 27,000-square-foot building is snuggled next to the woods and streams of Duke Forest. The firm incorporated elements found there as well as on the school's Gothic-style West Campus and health system structures into the building, which is also the first medical facility in North Carolina to receive LEED certification.

The buildings three main branches radiate out from a curving entry loggia which features a vaulted colonnade that references the Gothic language of the West Campus. As the branches move toward the forest, they provide quiet glass-walled corners for reflection, framed views, gardens with seating areas, meandering paths, and fountains. The Gothic versus nature battle continues in the two main waiting areas and the library : The areas boast a bench-lined hall faces a water-wall surrounded by a bamboo garden while the overhead arches in the library provide comfort through their structure and light.
Duda/Paine design partner, Turan Duda, says, "As architects, we rarely have the opportunity to design a project with a mission that aligns so profoundly with our own. One of the strongest threads running through Duda/Paine's work is the emphasis we place on the human experience of architecture—how we understand our surroundings episodically, experiencing with our senses and interpreting with our intellect. Just as the visionaries behind Duke's integrative medicine program view well being as an holistic endeavor that embraces mind, body, and spirit, our approach to design unifies theory and practice by focusing on the human experience."

"We are truly fortunate to have had visionary partners in the development of Duke Integrative Medicine," adds its executive director, Tracy Gaudet. "Working with Turan Duda and his team, we have been able to realize a clinical facility that sets a new standard, where the partnership we have with the patients and the support we provided is mirrored in our physical place, where our whole-person approach to health is reflect in every detail of our building."