A team that includes an internationally known architectural firm has been selected to design the $138 million School of Medicine building on the Virginia Commonwealth University medical campus.

The VCU board of visitors yesterday approved a $10 million architectural and engineering contract with the team of Ballinger, a Philadelphia-based architecture and engineering firm, and I.M. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners of New York.

The new 12-story School of Medicine building will replace the art deco A.D. Williams Clinic at the corner of 12th and Marshall streets.

I.M. Pei Partners is known for its work at the Louvre in Paris and the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington. It worked with Ballinger on plans for a new building for St. Vincent's Hospital in New York's Greenwich Village.

VCU is signing the contract with Ballinger, but Pei Cobb Freed will primarily be responsible for the architectural look of the building that will replace the A.D. Williams Clinic.

Some historic features from the old building will be integrated into the new design.

The demolition of the nine-story clinic is scheduled to begin in March 2010, with construction expected to be completed by 2013, Brian Ohlinger, associate vice president for facilities management, told the board.

The cost of "decanting" A.D. Williams will come to $21 million. The work includes demolition and transfer of personnel and equipment from the facility, which houses clinics, laboratories and faculty offices.

A 1992 agreement between VCU and the state Department of Historic Resources authorizes the demolition of both A.D. Williams and the 17-story, art-deco West Hospital. A.D. Williams connects to the West Hospital, at 12th and East Broad streets. No timetable has been set for its demolition.

Dr. Sheldon Retchin, vice president of health services, said the new building will allow the medical school to grow from 750 to 1,000 students and will include instructional labs that will revolutionize training.

"It will change the way we train medical students to become physicians," he said.
Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or kkapsidelis@timesdispatch.com.