The Frist Health Center at Princeton University
- The Frist Health Center at Princeton University, designed by WRNS Studio, reimagines student healthcare as an integrated, everyday campus experience through adaptive reuse and hospitality-inspired interiors.
- A “choice-driven” design strategy offers flexible, residential-style spaces, natural materials, and daylight-filled environments that reduce stress, enhance comfort, and support student wellness.
- Blending historic architecture with modern, sustainable design, the award-winning project emphasizes adaptability and long-term relevance.
Kayleen Kulesza (Image Credit: Jason O’Rear Photography)
When WRNS Studio (New York) began work on the Frist Health Center at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., the goal was as much cultural as architectural: reposition student health as an everyday campus destination rather than a place of need.
The result is a 76,500-square-foot adaptive reuse project that fuses Princeton’s historic Eno Hall, a 1924 Collegiate Gothic classroom building, with an addition. The newly named Frist Health Center houses clinical programs, counseling services, a 24-bed infirmary, and communal gathering spaces organized around a daylight-filled atrium. Inside, the design team employs “choice-driven” interiors using residential-scale furnishings and flexible spaces that give students control over where and how they wait, meet, or decompress.
The project earned the top Platinum Award in Healthcare Design’s 2026 Interior Design Competition. Jurors noted that the Frist Health Center “serves as a visual and environmental expression of the growth journey—integrating old and new—during a time of massive life transition.”
In this Q+A, Healthcare Design speaks with WRNS Studio’s Kayleen Kulesza, interior designer on the project, about the approach behind the award-winning student health center.
Healthcare Design (HCD): Describe the interior design strategy for Frist Health Center.
We approached the interiors by asking how student health could feel more like part of daily campus life and less like a place you go only when something is wrong. That meant creating spaces that feel open, comfortable, and easy to use, with waiting areas designed more like living rooms than traditional healthcare settings. Some are quiet and tucked in, while others are more social and connected to the gardens, giving students and staff choice in how they occupy the building.
HCD: What elements help create a sense of calm and approachability?
We focused on replacing the usual institutional feel of healthcare with something more familiar and human. Warm, tactile materials like wood, brick, and stone helped set that tone immediately. Daylight was another major factor, bringing calm into the building and making the spaces feel open and restorative.
The space planning also plays an important role, with the atrium acting as a clear point of orientation so people don’t feel lost or overwhelmed. Finally, and most importantly, Princeton’s campus heritage, building, and landscape are integral. Each waiting space has a specific and tuned adjacency to a garden environment, bringing the outside in.
HCD: What were some of the biggest challenges in blending old and new?
One of the biggest challenges was balancing the character of Eno Hall with the needs of a contemporary student health center. We wanted the historic building to remain legible while also creating an interior experience that felt cohesive, welcoming, and capable of supporting modern clinical needs. The adaptive reuse of Eno Hall grounds the project in history, while new insertions were deliberate in their detailing and expression.
We also used the interiors to move away from institutional healthcare models toward something more choice-driven. Clinical spaces balance performance with a hospitality mindset, while exposed mass timber and visible systems introduce material honesty and warmth.
Rather than blurring the line between old and new, we used that contrast to give the project clarity and texture and to shape a health center that feels both restorative and connected to campus life.
HCD: What other elements are important to the interior design strategy?
In a healthcare setting, material warmth matters. Wood, brick, and stone bring a sense of familiarity and comfort, while exposed timber adds softness and texture in a way that feels grounding.
Color and texture played a similar role. We used earth-toned palettes and tactile finishes to reduce visual noise. That helped the interiors feel approachable and easy to be in. It was also about layering. Materials, light, furniture, and historic elements all work together to create spaces that feel coherent and lived in. That sense of harmony helps support dignity, comfort, and a more humane experience of care.
HCD: How does the materials selection contribute to a “culture of wellness”?
The team’s approach was predicated on material transparency and setting clear health goals with stakeholders. We required environmental product declarations and health product declarations to ensure all selections adhered to robust standards.
Materials were vetted to be free of harmful substances such as flame retardants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and polyvinyl chloride, following guidelines for optimizing health in buildings.
HCD: Explain “choice-driven interiors” and how that concept plays out here.
Choice-driven interiors replace the rigid, one-size-fits-all institutional model with a framework of personal agency. By offering a spectrum of “spatial temperatures”—ranging from intimate, low-sensory alcoves to vibrant, daylight-filled social lounges—the design empowers students to calibrate their environment to their specific emotional and physical needs. This autonomy is a critical tool in reducing the stress often associated with healthcare.
For building staff, offices are furnished with variable palettes, seating options, and layouts and outfitted with operable windows. This strategy is epitomized by the McLain Pavilion, a high-performance, multipurpose room designed for flexibility. With fully reconfigurable furniture and mobile technology, the Pavilion seamlessly transitions from a 200-person campus event space to a quiet study sanctuary or a restorative yoga studio.
HCD: How is the project designed to remain relevant for years to come?
Timelessness was achieved through a “long-life, loose-fit” philosophy that pairs the permanence of historic masonry with highly flexible modern additions. By adaptively reusing Eno Hall, we leveraged Princeton’s architectural legacy while inserting a high-performance hybrid mass timber and steel system. This structural agility allows the building to evolve alongside shifting healthcare models. For example, the McLain Pavilion can seamlessly transition from a formal classroom to a pop-up clinic or a social sanctuary.
Beyond functional flexibility, we prioritized material honesty. The use of exposed timber, natural stone, and daylight-driven interiors creates a biophilic aesthetic that transcends fleeting design trends.
By centering wellness within the campus identity and providing a resilient, adaptable framework, the facility is positioned to remain a restorative landmark for generations to come.
HCD: Share an interior design lesson from this project with readers.
A key lesson is that design can actively dismantle stigma. By embedding health services within daily circulation paths, offering multiple points of entry, and creating spaces that support a range of uses, from quiet retreat to social interaction, the building normalizes wellness as an ongoing, collective experience. Care becomes visible, accessible, and integrated, rather than hidden or avoided.
Interior design is not just about atmosphere, but about shaping behavior and culture, making wellness a natural, supported part of student life rather than a destination visited only in times of need.
April Shernisky is executive editor of Healthcare Design and can be reached at [email protected].
View the full list of Interior Design Competition winners and get information on the awards program here.
