The Medical University of South Carolina to Build New $175 Million Facility

By Fay Harvey  

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Dec. 13 at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to celebrate the future 186,000-square-foot College of Medicine building. The project will be the first facility built in more than a century to specifically support the college’s more than 700 medical students. As the University approaches the College of Medicine’s bicentennial, leaders felt it was time to invest in the campus’ future. 

“Today is a hallmark for the next 200 years for MUSC and its College of Medicine,” said Terrence E. Steyer, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine and vice president for Medical Affairs, in a MUSC statement. “We will continue to ‘change what’s possible’ through the education, research and personal connections made in this new building.” 

The new $175 million state-of-the-art facility will sit in the heart of the MUSC campus and will offer several different entry points. The building will be surrounded by lush greenery with a large interior courtyard (including a cafe) and accessible pathways and seating areas. Inside, the building will include active learning and meeting spaces devoted to students as well as faculty and staff members, including a faculty and alumni common area. Large windows will flood the facility with an abundance of natural light, and interiors will feature soft interior lighting and wood paneling finishes. 

The new building was designed by the S/L/A/M Collective, an architecture firm founded in Glastonbury, Conn., in collaboration with Charleston, S.C.-based architects Liollio. Input from the College of Medicine leadership and medical students was incorporated through working group sessions to ensure the design met the needs of both students and educators. Presently, the College of Medicine student body shares classrooms and study spaces with other disciplines across campus, and faculty and staff members are spread out across eight separate campus locations.  

When complete, the new space will open the door for additional students interested in the College of Medicine. A shortage of more than 3,000 physicians is predicted for South Carolina in the upcoming decade, and MUSC hopes to curb that statistic by increasing the capacity for incoming classes of future physicians. 

“The new College of Medicine building is desperately needed to meet the demands for health care in our state and to train our students in the ever-increasing knowledge required to be a successful physician while maintaining the humanistic side — the compassion and empathy — that patients desire,” Steyer added in a statement. 

The new facility is slated to open in summer 2027.