Designed for Doctors: A Look Inside OCOM's Thoughtfully Planned Facilities
One of the things that I hear the most about OCOM is our incredible award-winning facility, designed by the Chief Design Officer for Orlando-based Baker Barrios, Wayne Dunkelberger. I was fortunate to spend hundreds of hours with Wayne and his team on the design of OCOM and I couldn’t be more pleased with the final result. I think we have created the most modern, functional, and best designed medical school in the world. One of my favorite OCOM Podcast Episodes is where we discuss the design of OCOM. The design is only part of the story. Our facilities, led by Len Nicosia, our Director of Facilities at OCOM and his team have done an amazing job creating the medical school of the future. Here are some of the highlights:
Sustainability
Sustainability is an important consideration when designing and implementing the medical school of the future and was part of our planning process from day one. The orientation of OCOM is from east-to-west and follows the sun path as a result of a 365-day, software-based light study that minimizes direct sunlight for the building, but maximizes indirect sunlight to allow for the natural light while also decreasing energy costs. All of our windows are argon-gas filled double pane windows that also decreases energy waste. Most of our windows are on the north side of the building and less on the south side, which also decreases air conditioning costs. Our roof is covered in best-in-class solar panels that maximizes solar energy capsule and allows for most of the energy used by OCOM to come from the sun - it also will have a very positive return on investment over the next 25-30 years (the expected lifespan of solar panels). Solar power also helps to power our car-charging stations. Additionally, the custodial team uses reusable microfiber towels that decrease waste and use Green Seal Certified environmentally-safe cleaning products to keep the facility ribbon-cutting day clean.
Functionality
With an expected lifespan of the building over 100 years old, we designed the building to fulfill curricular needs for the modern medical education curriculum, but also for every conceivable variation of the curriculum, however it may evolve. OCOM has large-group, seminar-sized, team-based learning, simulation, small-group, and other types of learning spaces. It also has a test accommodation center - a space that is well utilized with the significant increase in disabilities requiring accommodation in medical students. We recently hosted the annual conference for the Spina Bifida Association and they were extremely appreciative of all our accessibility features, including our height-adjustable podiums for speakers, listening-assistance capabilities for the auditoria, and complete accessibility throughout the facility. We have a 3500-square-foot fitness center and a spiritual room (we have noticed that is used more on testing days). The thing that I love the most is how our faculty, staff, and students love the building and they enjoy it every day.
Aesthetics
In the design of OCOM, we wanted a facility that reflected our modern medical education curriculum, have tons of natural light, create a feeling of a medical school through our art, memorialize our founders, and be a beautiful facility to learn and work in. I think we have accomplished all of those things. One of the things that people talk the most about is our grand chandelier when you come through the entrance. One of our founding board members, Phil Zaveri is a hotelier and had experience with a superb lighting company - the resulting chandelier is breathtaking. OCOM is one of those examples of an environment where the final product is greater than the sum of its parts. It feels like a beautiful facility that inspires each of us and will serve the needs of the medical school for generations to come.
Safety/Security
Safety and security is an incredibly important feature of our building and planning started from day one. We have a single point of entry and egress - a best practice for any educational facility. Our security team (with over one hundred years of law enforcement experience and our receptionist welcome everyone into the facility. All visitors must go through an ID-based background check that also takes their photo and instantly notifies the person that they are visiting. We have over 120 Verkada camera systems that track everyone inside and outside the facility with cloud-based recording. We have no keys, but rather NFC readers for every door in the building that requires a photo ID badge or an NFC-enabled phone or smart watch to open doors. We have a campus-wide notification system as well as an active-shooter safety system in the building. We also have an emergency blue light phone in our parking lot and we even have a golf cart for security to take students out to their cars if they are studying late. One challenge of being in the lightning capital of the year in Central Florida, there are a number of lightning strikes that all large buildings are prone to (especially those on the top of a hill like OCOM is (we had 3 lightning strikes before we installed the solution. In late 2024, we installed a lightning strike solution. It prevents lightning strikes through an innovative deionization process and we have had zero lightning strikes since installed.
Our admissions team hosts a number of OCOM open houses and I encourage you to come and check out OCOM for yourself and learn more about our incredible medical school.
