The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently celebrated the official opening of Flad-designed Roper Hall, the university's new home for medical education. Over 300 people were on hand for the event, including the building's namesake, former Dean of the UNC School of Medicine and former CEO of UNC Health Dr. Bill Roper.
As the architect of record, Flad partnered with UNC to design Roper Hall with the goal of facilitating a 30 percent growth in class size and redesigned curriculum based on group instruction and team-based learning. The new nine-story, 172,000-square-foot facility replaces Berryhill Hall, which opened in 1970.
Roper Hall includes a 240-person Active Learning Center; two floors dedicated to clinical skills and simulated learning; flexible labs; and classroom, study, and collaboration spaces. Classrooms accommodate several scales of learning, including lectures, seminars, working groups, and independent study. Diverse support spaces provide students and faculty with space for socializing and informal learning, encouraging an already robust academic community.
Flad Architects (architect of record, design architect, co-interior design architect), The SLAM Collaborative (medical education planner, co-interior design architect)
University
of North Carolina 
School of Medicine, Roper Hall
October 10, 2023