AIA Selects 12 Projects for National Healthcare Design Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Institute of Architects Academy of Architecture for Health  has selected the recipients of the AIA National Healthcare Design Awards program.  The AIA Healthcare Awards program showcases the best of healthcare building design and healthcare design-oriented research.  Projects exhibit conceptual strengths that solve aesthetic, civic, urban and social concerns, as well as the requisite functional and sustainability concerns of a hospital.

Jurors for the 2013 National Healthcare Design Awards include: Joan Saba, AIA, Chair, NBBJ; Orlando T. Maione, AIA, Maione Associates; Mike Mense, FAIA, mmenseArchitects; Kathy Reno, Joint Commission Resources, Inc.; Bill Rostenberg, FAIA, Stantec; Bryan Shiles, AIA, WRNS and Ron Smith, AIA, Design At The Intersection.

Recipients were selected in five different categories; Category A: Built, Less than $25 million in construction cost, Category B: Built, More than $25 million in construction cost, Category C: Unbuilt, Category D: Innovations in Planning and Design Research, Built and Unbuilt and Category E:  Master Planning Urban Design for Healthcare Settings.

Category A: Built, Less than $25 million in construction cost

UCLA Outpatient Surgery and Oncology Center; Santa Monica, Calif.
Designed by Michael W. Folonis Architects and built by Nautilus Group

This outpatient surgery, oncology treatment and medical office facility asserts that a more natural and less clinical environment promotes healing in patients and productive behavior in medical staff.  The architects sought the maximum inclusion of natural lighting and ventilation, and an enhanced indoor-outdoor connection.  This is the only project to win AIA-AAH Awards in both on-the-boards and built categories.

Peace Island Medical Center; Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Wash.
Designed by Mahlum and built by Howard S. Wright/ Balfour Beatty

Peace Island Medical Center began with a remote island community uniting to realize their vision of rural healthcare in the San Juan Islands. The hospital melds discreetly into the old-growth forest, basalt slopes and wetlands.  The design reflects the values of the caregivers and community, embodying humility, environmental sensitivity and innovation. Read more about this project in MCD’s July/August issue.

Adamsville Regional Health Center; Atlanta, Ga.
Designed by Stanley Beaman & Sears and built by Whiting-Turner

The 34,000-square-foot building houses a primary care clinic, a behavioral health clinic, childcare facilities, a dental clinic and a workforce community center.  The co-location of these functions led the design team to consider the communal folk art of quilting and inspiration also came from the constructed paintings of contemporary Atlanta artist Radcliffe Bailey, who pieces together found objects, archival photographs and historic imagery with jazz-like effects.  The design-build, fast-track project was completed, from start to finish, in 275 days.

The Everett Clinic Smokey Point Medical Center; Smokey Point, Wash.
Designed by ZGF Architects LLP and built by J.R. Abbott Construction Inc.

The new Smokey Point Medical Center houses 20 different medical specialties in a two-story, 60,000-square-foot clinic designed to reflect The Everett Clinic’s values and to streamline and enhance the patient experience by reducing wait times and providing comprehensive care in a single, easy-to-access community location. The facility was designed using Lean with a focus on achieving a highly efficient and flexible environment that expressed affordable elegance.

Category B: Build, More than $25 million in construction cost

University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital; Minneapolis, Minn.
Designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates and built by Kraus-Anderson Construction Company

The University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital is setting new standards for safety, comfort and clinical efficiency. The six-story building consolidates the pediatric programs and inpatient units and includes 96 same-handed, private inpatient rooms, a sedation/observation unit, dialysis unit, pediatric emergency department, an expansion of the existing imaging department and surgical suite, family resource center, gift shop and underground parking.  The building creates a distinct identity for the hospital, engaging visitors with its bright and playful exterior of multi-colored stainless steel panels.

Palomar Medical Center; Escondido, Calif.
Designed by CO Architects and built by DPR Construction

Nationally recognized for its innovative approach to sustainable design, healing environments and technical execution, Palomar Medical Center is the first phase of development of a new 35-acre campus that includes the 360-bed acute-care hospital and a new central plant.  Innovations in medical planning and architectural design meet the project goals of improving access to care, improving operational efficiencies and creating sustainable, high-performance healing environments. The design strategies include a full complement of water conservation, air quality and energy-saving measures.

San Antonio Military Medical Center – an addition to the Brooke Army Medical Center; Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Designed by RTKL Associates, Inc. and built by Clark/Hunt, A Joint Venture of Clark Construction and Hunt Construction Group, San Antonio

The San Antonio Military Medical Center is the largest inpatient medical center for the U.S. Department of Defense and the agency’s only American Burn Associated-verified burn center. The building, which opened in 2011, adds 102 beds, a rehabilitation clinic, expanded operating room capabilities, a new emergency department and a new patient bed tower. It also includes a parking structure for 5,000 vehicles, and ancillary support and infrastructure. RTKL was commissioned to design the new 760,000 -square-foot, LEED-Silver certified building after working on a number of other projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in support of their 2005 Base Realignment and Closure initiative.

Category C: Unbuilt

Sheikh Khalifa Medical City; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in a joint venture with ICME & Tilke as ITS

Sheikh Khalifa Medical City is an 838-bed medical complex in the heart of Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP in a joint venture with ICME and Tilke, SKMC contains three hospitals under one roof, combining a General Hospital, tertiary Women’s Hospital and Pediatric Hospital. This model enhances patient care through specialization while improving efficiency through shared services. Envisioned as a city within a city, the design creates a bustling campus-like environment of distinct character and is based on the notion of patients as guests.

Category D: Innovations in Planning and Design Research, Built and Unbuilt

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating Room (AMIGO); Boston, Mass.
Designed by Payette and built by Suffolk Construction Company

In the groundbreaking clinical research facility, Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s AMIGO Suite, an operating room is linked to adjacent imaging suites, enabling the patient to remain static while the machines — including a 33,000-pound MRI— move from one chamber to another in the midst of a surgical procedure.  The array of infrastructure necessary to enable this technology was deftly concealed behind walls and above ceilings, which were kept neutral in appearance so as not to compete with critical patient information displays.

Rethinking the need for emergency department beds
Lennon Associates

The project was to reduce the number of beds, staff and patient waiting times in a major teaching hospital emergency department, while at the same time, increase patient safety and comfort.  This study concluded that 60 percent of emergency department patients did not need to be in a bed, but could be seen in a less intense setting.  Building less beds needs less staff and requires a new physical layout to accommodate the new patient flow. Computer simulations were liberally used to establish the size and staffing required for the new patient flow model.

Kaleida Health, Gates Vascular Institute and UB Clinical Translational Research Center; Buffalo, N.Y.
Designed by Cannon Design and built by Turner Construction and LP Ciminelli

The spirit of collaboration was the driving force uniting Kaleida Health and the University at Buffalo within a single structure, and the building strives to bring several disciplines and its patients, surgeons and researchers together to exchange knowledge and ignite innovation.  The 476,000-square-foot facility achieves this by stacking a translational research building over a clinical vascular institute. The first four floors of this 10-story “vertical campus” house the Gates Vascular Institute, with the Clinical Translational Research Center occupying the top half of the building. Sandwiched between the two, is a two-level “collaborative core” — the binder that connects doctors and researchers from varying specialties to meet in a variety of dynamic situations to accelerate medical discoveries.

Category E:  Master Planning Urban Design for Healthcare Settings

Focal Point Community Campus; Chicago, Ill.
Designed by HDR Architecture, Inc.

Located in Southwest Chicago, it is one of the most vibrant, yet blighted, neighborhoods in the city.  Acting as both an anchor and a change agent, the hospital is envisioned as an urban campus that fosters a relationship between the hospital and its community. The two are intrinsically linked by a “circulatory system” — a band of food and retail markets, fitness centers, etc. that runs along the third floor of the building. Its ground floor is wrapped with glass and its grounds are replete with wellness gardens, soccer fields and basketball courts.