This landmark facility has been in operation for a while now. It is Indiana’s first new medical school in the last 110 years and it is the nation’s first osteopathic medical school at a Catholic university. The facility was honored at the 2014 Indianapolis Monumental Awards for Merit in Architecture.

In March of 2015, the building received LEED Gold certification, scoring 62 points using LEED 2009. LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is a green building certification program that recognizes the best-in-class building strategies and practices. It is a scoring system verified by the USGBC (US Green Building Council) that focuses on sustainable design different categories. The Michael A. Evans Center scores in each of the categories were as follows:

•  Sustainable Sites: 21 out of 26 possible points
•  Water Efficiency: 7 out of 10 possible points
•  Energy & Atmosphere: 12 out of 35 possible points
•  Materials & Resources: 5 out of 14 possible points
•  Indoor Environmental Quality: 9 out of 15 possible points
•  Innovation & Design Process: 5 out of 6 possible points
•  Regional Priority Credits: 3 out of 4 possible points

The urban location of Marian University obviously was key to achieving so many site credits. The regional credits achieved were also site related. The building utilizes a water-cooled VRF (variable-refrigerant-flow) mechanical system which contributes greatly to its Energy and Atmosphere score achieving 26% more efficient than ASHRAE 90.1 – 2007 threshold. For a Health Care facility this is a very respectable score, since these types of facilities tend to use much more energy to accommodate all of their systems and patient comfort.

The innovation credits achieved for the project were for exemplary performances for use of recycled content (30%), maximum open space, and regional materials (30%).

The facility has elevated the expectations for future developments at Marian University as well as the City of Indianapolis.