The University of Cincinnati has completed a $34 million renovation of Kowalewski Hall, an architecturally significant building in Corryville that is the home of the Winkle College of Pharmacy.
The two-year construction project on what previously was known as the Health Professions Building resulted in new laboratories and classrooms, and a first-floor area that for many years had been used as office space was restored to its original function as an auditorium.
“These changes allow our students to have access to cutting-edge facilities, great learning environments and is a space they can be proud to call home,” said Neil MacKinnon, dean of the College of Pharmacy.
UC also replaced the building’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing systemsnas well as all of the windows. Electrical and lighting systems were upgraded and made energy efficient.
The downtown Cincinnati architectural firm Glaserworks oversaw the redesign.
The College of Pharmacy renamed the building Kowalewski Hall in 2015, when the renovation work began, after Joseph Kowalewski. He served as dean from 1949 to 1970. He was the last dean of the school when it was the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, an independent institution when it opened in 1850, and directed the merger with UC in 1954. He died at age 100 in 2000.
The College of Pharmacy has been in what is now Kowalewski Hall since 1976.
The 118,590-square-foot building was designed by Samuel Hannaford & Sons, the architectural firm that also designed the landmark Cincinnati City Hall downtown, Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine, the Cincinnati Observatory in Hyde Park and the Van Wormer Library on UC’s east campus.
About $20.9 million of the cost to renovate Kowalewski Hall came from state capital funding. The structure, which cost $255,000 to build, opened in 1918 as the home of the Ohio-Miami Medical College (now the UC College of Medicine).
The redesign included the installation of advanced computer hardware and software as well as audio-visual equipment. For example, a custom-built application called Skilluate integrates recording video sessions with online evaluations tied to them. The online evaluations replaced thousands of paper evaluations. The college set up 12 recording stations in two lab environments to capture patient counseling sessions along with sterile compounding sessions.
The application is expected to be used at other UC colleges.
The renovation of Kowalewski Hall is the latest project in UC’s medical campus master plan, which calls for $480 million in phased new construction and renovation of existing academic health center buildings.
The first phase, which included the CARE/Crawley Building, was completed in 2008. Subsequent phases include renovations to Procter Hall, the Kettering Lab Complex and the Medical Sciences Building. Construction is now ongoing for the Health Sciences Building, a $98 million structure that will house the UC College of Allied Health Sciences.