173: Terracotta Rainscreen | Carnegie Mellon University Highmark Center for Health, Wellness, and Athletics

In this episode, Cherise is joined by Kent Suhrbier, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson with offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, and Wilkes-Barre. They discuss the Carnegie Mellon University Highmark Center for Health, Wellness, and Athletics in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Highmark Center for Health, Wellness, and Athletics at Carnegie Mellon University brings together many aspects of student life into one place, supporting physical health, mental well-being, and personal growth. Light-toned brick and a terracotta rainscreen create a modern interpretation of traditional forms, with subtle patterning in the façade that references the rhythm of a heartbeat, reinforcing the building’s connection to health and human experience.

Click here for the extended length interview on YouTube

Kent Suhrbier, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Kent's approach to design values evocative environments that maintain a thoughtful sensitivity to the natural environment and the communities they serve.

Kent's work ranges from centers for engineering and wellness, corporate headquarters, and university laboratories, to civic facilities and museums.

The core theme to this diverse experience is his commitment to crafting spaces that consistently define new paradigms, as has been the case on projects ranging from Carnegie Mellon's new Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics to the Frick Environmental Center.

Project Name and Location: Carnegie Mellon University Highmark Center for Health, Wellness, and Athletics, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics embodies Carnegie Mellon University's holistic approach to student wellbeing. By integrating diverse services under one roof, the LEED Gold project establishes a new model for offering interconnected emotional, spiritual, and physical support on campus. This complex combination of services presented unique planning challenges, such as connecting departments while carefully organizing both public and private spaces, choreographing physical adjacencies, visual transparency, and acoustic separation.

Located at a campus and neighborhood gateway, the constrained, sloped site included a restricted height limit and a large, historic gymnasium. The 160,000 GSF building preserves and integrates 24,000 GSF of the Skibo Gymnasium, now repurposed for year-round use as a flexible fieldhouse. The design team also re-integrated salvaged materials from the 100-year-old gym for use in the Highmark Center, including 6,000 square feet of wood flooring and 70% of the original stamped copper fascia panels from the demolished portions of the adjacent North Gymnasium annex.

Exterior materials visually tie the new building to campus context. The design team drew on the underlying logic of nearby Henry Hornbostel-designed buildings, re-interpreting materials and patterns to create a contemporary facility with a strong connection to place. The campus side of the Highmark Center bookends with the existing gym structure and establishes a calm edge, articulated in a contemporary expression of light-toned, locally sourced brick. The Tech Street exterior features custom fritted, bird-safe glass and a facade of glazed terra-cotta rainscreen that extends the materiality of the nearby terra-cotta Margaret Morrison Hall rotunda and introduces a subtle, extruded pattern drawn from the sinus rhythm of a human heartbeat.

A wellness garden opens the heart of the Highmark Center, framing the ski and bringing natural light into health clinics. An innovative component of the building, the wellness garden also provides critical acoustical separation between the competition arena to the south and private wellness suites on the third and fourth floors. The secluded space features plantings that provide an immersive, multi-sensory experience, while integrated seating and curved pathways offer visitors with place for reflection. Other landscaping strategies were used to respond to prior flash flooding events in neighboring Schenley Park and the sloping topography of the site. The project team integrated native landscaping and a hybrid network of bio-retention, extensive raingardens, and planted weirs, with additional engineered filtration and structured retention systems that manage 100% of the stormwater on-site.

Project Team List:

• Owner: Carnegie Mellon University


• Construction Manager: Mascaro Construction Co.


• Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers


• Civil & Geotechnical Engineer: Langan Engineering


• MEP Engineer: Affiliated Engineers, Inc.


• Code Consultant: Holmes Keogh Associates, LLC


• Landscape Architect: OJB Landscape Architecture


• Acoustical Engineer: Babich Acoustics


• Lighting Design: Francis Krahe & Associates


• AV/IT/Security: BrightTree Studios


• Masonry: Franco Associates


• Cost Estimating: Dharam Consulting LLC


• Sustainability Commissioning: BranchPattern

Unique Products:

• Terra-cotta: Shildan, (Installed by Patrinos)


• Millwork and Casework: Giffin Custom Architectural Millwork and Casework


• Glazing Systems: YKK AP America, Marvin and Viracon


• Structural Steel: Littell Steel Company


• Interior Framing: Patrinos Painting and Contracting Company


• Insulation: Rockwool


• Countertop Materials: FSC Solid Maple, Forbo, Avonite Aristech and Corian Quartz


• Athletic Flooring: Connor Hardwood Courts, Moose Sport, and Regupol


• Tile Carpeting: Interface


• Resilient Flooring: Forbo


• Ceramic Tile: Daltile


• Specialty Flooring: Nydree Flooring, Royal Stone


• Faucets, Kitchen: Chicago Faucets


• Ceiling systems: Armstrong


• Lounge and Dining Furnishings: Andreu World, MillerKnoll, Design Within Reach, and Hightower


• Office Furnishings: Haworth, KI, Kimball, Andreu World, OFS, Arcadia, and Sandler


• Upholstery: Designtex, Carnegie, Camira, Kvadrat, Maharam, and Ultrafabrics.

Photos/Drawings Credit:

• Ed Massery


• Nic Lehoux

Podcast Production: Gabl Media Inc.