More than 40 percent of Harvard Medical School students underwent clinical training at the teaching hospital in 2010. It currently has 793 beds and 43 operating rooms, and admitted more than 46,000 patients in 2010. Ambulatory visits have grown to more than 3.5 million per year.

The new Brigham Building for the Future will consist of eight floors of research laboratories, two floors of clinics, advanced imaging facilities, and a conference and teaching center, which will give BWH a proper amount of research space to maintain its leadership in medical research. The building anchors the Pike, a quarter-mile-long pedestrian circulation system that connects it to the existing hospital campus. A pedestrian bridge also connects the building to the existing Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, also built by Suffolk.

The clinic plans are designed for flexibility, which will maximize collaboration between disciplines. The neuroscience floor, for instance, will mix clinicians from 13 sub-specialties to give patients complete multidisciplinary care in one location.

The architect on the project is NBBJ, with offices in Boston. The company designed the building to achieve LEED Gold certification, with a facade of windows that allow daylight into the building. Sunshades on the exterior also allow the building occupants to use the daylight in accordance with their needs. Other green building features include a roof garden to reduce storm water runoff; a system that cleans and reuses storm water for mechanical equipment; and a co-generation plant to supply the building with electricity steam and hot water.

Construction is scheduled for completion in fall 2016.

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