UC Riverside’s new School of Medicine instructional building was recognized for excellence in architecture by the Society for College and University Planning.

The School of Medicine Education Building II, which opened in fall 2023, received an honorable mention in the society’s 2025 awards, which recognized higher education projects completed within the past five years.

The awards jury, made up of design professionals, described it as a “beautifully designed building inside and out” with a “layout and transparent design (that) welcomes the campus community.”

The five-story building is the medical school’s largest expansion since it opened in 2013 and the first building designed specifically for its needs, with state-of-the-art facilities that support modern medical education. It allowed the school to increase its class size with added administrative offices, lecture halls, classrooms, study space, student lounges, and other support space. 

The project team was made up of CO Architects and general contractor Hensel Phelps who worked collaboratively with the university’s Office of Planning, Design, and Construction.

Jacqueline Norman, campus architect, said she was pleased with the acknowledgement from the group.

“The process of planning, designing, and building the SOM ED II models the best outcome of collaborative, inclusive planning,” she said. “The end result is a facility that not only supports the transformational vision of the School of Medicine but also resulted in an equally important transformational improvement to this area of campus, by becoming a new and much needed daily gathering place and destination for the entire campus.”

The building previously won design awards from Engineering News-Record California and the Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful Awards.