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Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center

Published 4/15/2015
Curved CAD Wall
Simulated Intensive Care Control Room
Simulated Operating Room
Surgical Skills Lab
Level 1 Floor Plan
Level 2 Floor Plan
Level 3 Floor Plan

The University of Toledo’s Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center is equipped with an i-Space™—the world’s first five-sided seamless LED virtual reality center for medical training, education, and research—and a virtual hospital outfitted with human patient simulators, state-of-the-art clinical equipment, and observation, control and debriefing rooms. The five-sided CAVE required a four-inch-thick glass floor weighing two tons. The four-story building also includes a three-story atrium with skylight; 3D/virtual CAD walls (one curved, two flat-screened); simulated homecare environment; a theater; inter-professional collaboration workspaces; global learning suites; innovation labs and administrative offices.

The technology helps learners better understand anatomical size and structural relationships, provides views that could not be seen in two dimensions, provides practice with virtual models and/or procedures with minimal impact on environment, and allows the learner to control his or her pace and direction.

The goal was to create a resource destination for students and staff at all the University’s colleges, the University Medical Center, and area hospitals, and to make the technology available to a wide range of community groups, including the Toledo museum of Art, the Toledo Zoo, the public schools, and the military. The health science campus alone enrolls more than 3,000 students. While the cave automatic virtual environment can hold only a handful of people at a time, the room with the 28-by-9-foot curved CAD wall (containing 18 LED cubes controlled by nine computers) can be viewed by as many as 40 at a time.

The Virtual Immersive Reality (VIR) Simulation Center is located on the first floor; the Advanced Clinical Simulation Center on the second; and on the third, the Progressive Anatomy & Surgical Skills Center, with 15 surgical bays, procedure rooms, surgical teaching stations, and a surgical skills dry lab. The Modeling and Simulation School is on the lower level.

The facility is tracking LEED Gold certification.

Organization Project Role
BHDP Architecture
Architect
Mosser Construction Co.
Builder
BHDP Architecture
Interior Design
AVI-SPL
Technology Integrators (AV, IT, Acoustics, Security and Construction Documentation for VR Equipment)
Poggemeyer Design Group
Phase 1 Construction Administration; Phase 2 Structural, Civil, and Construction Administration
JDRM
Phase 1 & 2 MEP Engineering
Bostelman Corporation
Cost Estimating for Budget Management
Barco
i-Space and CAD Walls
EON Reality
Virtual Immersive Reality (VIR) software used in the i-Space and CAD walls
Jamestown Metal Products
Cabinets
Schindler Elevators
Elevators
Imperial Glass Structures
Skylights
TMI Climate Solutions
HVAC
Centria Galvalume
Insulated Wall Panels
Huflor
Moveable Partitions/Walls