University of Central Arkansas

The four-story nursing school at the University of Central Arkansas was designed by Taggart Architects and ENFRA to create an interactive, real-world healthcare environment for the College of Nursing. The building features integrated patient care areas that replicate immersive, professional healthcare scenarios, promoting inter-professional education and collaboration among all majors within the college.

Students will gain hands-on experience through clinical and simulation-based training, supported by realistic features such as a simulated medical gas infrastructure and gas headwalls at patient beds—designed to mimic real-life events like a loss of normal power from control rooms.

ENFRA’s engineering team worked closely with the design team at every stage to ensure the facility would authentically replicate a healthcare setting while still serving the educational needs of students and faculty.

The first floor is home to the Interprofessional Teaching Center, where students learn and work together as part of a modern healthcare team. On the third floor, the Nabholz Center for Healthcare Simulation offers a state-of-the-art simulation lab that more than doubles the size of the previous facility, providing students with high-fidelity, lifelike training scenarios. The second and fourth floors house classrooms and office space for faculty and staff.