The Ellison Institute is a unique location where research, treatment, and teaching happen in the same building. The design encourages the paths of each user to intersect and cross in order to amplify the power of collaboration and transparency in creating a transformative healing environment. The goal of the design is to proactively create an interdependent collaboration between researcher, patient, and physician in order to provide the greatest impact in patient treatment. The design encourages the paths of each user to intersect and cross in order to amplify the power of collaboration and transparency in creating a transformative healing environment.

Wherever possible, signage was designed as a modular system that can be expanded over time as uses change or donors commit. Room signs can add or change occupants to support the Institute’s organizational flexibility. Every lab is designed to accommodate donor recognition, and the donor wall is designed to swap out modular panels as modest donors become major donors over time. Every piece is a part of the larger picture—an olive branch, a symbol of the holistic practice of wellness and a particular contributor to medical history.