With the goal of educating students to improve the future of healthcare, the Tower at STAR is the 120,000 SF centerpiece of the University of Delaware’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) campus. Ballinger planned and designed the interior environment to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and enhance translational research.

State-of-the-art labs are intended to inspire students and reduce the time between discovery and improvements in health-related outcomes. Co-locating research development, patient-centered research and clinical services allows students, faculty and researchers to take on complex real-world challenges and design innovative solutions.

The College of Health Sciences occupies seven floors of the building and is home to programs in behavioral health, nutrition, kinesiology, applied physiology, medical and molecular sciences, nursing, physical therapy, and communication sciences and disorders. Specialty spaces that support the College, including a demonstration kitchen, an audiology booth, a sleep lab (where researchers investigate how language is acquired) and an innovation health design lab (which serves as a staging space for wearable technology), engage students with real-world experience. In addition, fully-immersive simulation labs employ virtual and augmented reality to mimic real-life settings, allowing students to work amidst a myriad of simulated patient environments.