Alta Architects
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Harlingen, Texas • February 20, 2022

Alta Architects recently completed the new Institute of Neuroscience Building for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine. This new state of the art facility is the first phase of a new medical and research campus in Harlingen, Texas. The facility consolidates the Department of Neuroscience under one roof to enable the Department to educate and perform research in an academic setting and provide clinical services and community outreach to the greater Rio Grande Valley community, focusing specifically on border health and Hispanic health issues. The Institute’s imaging suite, with both an MRI and PET/CT, serves both clinical and research needs. The computational laboratory and clinical research unit is adaptable to many neurological research needs. The clinic was designed to provide a calming, patient focused environment. 

The Rio Grande Valley has one of the highest rates of Alzheimer’s disease in the country and the Institute of Neuroscience is designed to help study and treat patients where they live. The UTRGV School of Medicine is expanding crucial medical services for the Rio Grande Valley with its Institute of Neuroscience (ION). ION will act as a hub for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary clinical care, research, education and community partnership with a central goal: to transform brain health in the Valley and beyond. 

 “We want to give the people of South Texas access to advanced neurology care, and our Institute of Neuroscience will make that happen.” 

– Dr. Michael R. Dobbs, MHCM, Chair of the Department of Neurology
and Chief Medical Officer for UT Health Rio Grande Valley

UTRGV     School of Medicine    Institute of Neuroscience   UTRGV ION Press Release

Alta Architects, with Facility Programming and Consulting, were engaged by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) to prepare an architectural program of requirements for UTRGV School of Medicine’s new Institute of Neurosciences Building. In 2017, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine was awarded a $15 million gift from The Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation that will help establish the UTRGV Institute for Neurosciences. The gift will be used to begin construction of the proposed 60,000 gsf Institute of Neurosciences Building in Harlingen, Texas, near the existing UTRGV Regional Academic Health Center. The project will be completed in two phases of approximately 30, 000 gsf each. The building will establish a neuroscience and research presence in the Rio Grande Valley, integrating primary care, behavioral health, and internal medicine, as well as provide for development of medical student clerkships in psychiatry and neurology and research and clinical fellowships in sub-specialties.

The site for the new Institute of Neurosciences Building is in Harlingen, Texas, south east of the existing Academic and Clinical Research Building and the Regional Academic Health Center. Phase One of the Institute of Neurosciences will be the first building on the 35 acre plot located along Haine Dr. The site is currently undeveloped land and is surrounded by residential neighborhoods.

About ALTA Architects

Founded in 1927, Alta Architects is a San Antonio, Texas based architecture firm that has designed some of the most transformational buildings and spaces in the state, including the home of the San Antonio Spurs, AT&T Center and the “Texas Highline” San Pedro Creek Culture Park.

Alta Architects enjoys a diverse design practice, which encompasses corporate, governmental, institutional, mixed-use development, multi-family housing, and educational work. Alta has been recognized for design excellence with more than 158 juried awards, which we see as the symbol of a successful collaboration with our clients.

Today, Alta continues our distinguished 94-year architectural practice and is one of the largest minority-owned (MBE) design firms in the state. While the firm has evolved over nine decades, our mission remains the same in our commitment to on-time, on-budget delivery, excellence in technical project management and a highly collaborative design process that reflects the hopes and aspirations of the communities with which we work.

CONTACT
Javier Paredes, AIA
Javier.paredes@alta-architects.com 
c. ‭(210) 389-5191‬

Alta Architects
Strength + Utility + Beauty
723 S. Flores Street • San Antonio, Texas 78204 
210.349.1163 • www.alta-architects.com