Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center - Mayo Clinic
Rochester, MN

The Mayo Clinic along with BWBR Architects and Damon Farber Associates added a comprehensive wellness and fitness facility on its downtown campus. The facility, funded through a generous gift from S. Daniel Abraham, an entrepreneur and philanthropist of Palm Beach, Fla., and New York, will offer an expanded range of activities designed to help Mayo Clinic’s employees improve their health and fi tness, reduce stress and implement benefi cial lifestyle changes.

Entering from the campus’ extensive underground pedestrian circulation system, users catch glimpses of multiple activity spaces including the pool, fitness area, running track and group exercise areas. An open stairway carries individuals to the main lobby level, where there is an extensive use of planters that move up and through the center core. Outside, a sunken healing garden, designed by Damon Farber Associates is carved from the southeast corner of the site to allow daylight to penetrate deep into the lowest level of the facility.