Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine receives architecture honor

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson's Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine has received an honorable mention in the schools and universities category of the 2025 International Architecture Awards.

The recognition highlights the center’s three-building complex in Tucson, which was completed in 2023 and designed by award-winning firm Line and Space. The project incorporates sustainability and the research of Esther Sternberg, MD, director of research at the center, a member of the BIO5 Institute and author of “Well at Work,” into its architecture.

The annual awards program, now in its 20th year and presented by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, honors leading global projects in architecture, urban planning and landscape design.

“It was a joy to work with the architects to design the buildings on a framework of integrative health informed by research,” Sternberg said. “Design is a form of medicine. The building complex and this honor are evidence that design professionals and health professionals can indeed be partners in creating well-being wherever people work, live or learn.” 

The complex embodies the seven domains of integrative health — sleep, resilience, environment, movement, relationships, spirituality and nutrition — through features such as daylighting, shaded windows, desert landscaping, walking paths and spaces for meditation.

“From its founding, the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine has pushed the boundaries of what health and wellness can be,” said Stephen Dahmer, MD, director of the center. “This award recognizes that healing does not take place in exam rooms alone, but also in people’s environments.”

Line and Space, the Tucson-based architecture firm behind the project, emphasized the importance of place-based design.

“The Sonoran Desert is our guide. What we learn from the land and climate shapes our architecture,” said Henry Tom, FAIA, of Line and Space. “Every element, from the materials to the circulation of air and light, was chosen to reflect the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center’s values and to model sustainable, health-supportive living.”

The three-building complex, which is designed to represent mind, body and spirit, connects to the community through green space, desert gardens and walking paths that extend into nearby parkland. Research at the center is helping to shape best practices for workplace wellness and guiding new standards for healthy building design worldwide.