GS&P Wins AIA Merit Award for Middle Tennessee Medical Center

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Gresham, Smith and Partners has been recognized as a Merit Award winner in the Built category of AIA Middle Tennessee’s 2011 Design Awards competition. GS&P’s design for Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., was selected for the award based on 10 judging criteria related to sustainable design and performance.

“GS&P’s goal was to create a truly state-of-the-art hospital that helped MTMC become the area’s first choice for excellent healthcare in a convenient location,” said Gregory A. Gore, AIA, NCARB, healthcare principal at Gresham, Smith and Partners. “We successfully combined natural, healing elements with smart, efficient, patient-safe design to deliver a medical center that attracts top-quality physicians and allows staff to provide the best patient-centered care.”

With its easy-access Murfreesboro location, Middle Tennessee Medical Center aimed to change the belief that patients needed to travel to Nashville or beyond for quality medical care. The 286-bed, 550,000-square-foot, faith-based replacement hospital anchors the city’s Gateway Design District.

It serves as a regional model of efficient healthcare focusing on indoor environmental quality and incorporating patient-safe design principles that decrease the risk of accidents and errors. A chapel and serenity garden promote spiritual well-being while family-friendly patient rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows facilitate health and healing. Nursing units feature noise-reducing, step-saving design and a new hospital-wide wayfinding system improves visitors’ experience.

GS&P’s design was rated on the basis of AIA’s top ten project measures: intent and innovation, community, site, bioclimatic design, light and air, water, energy, materials, long life and feedback. The judging panel was composed of five San Antonio, Texas-based architects and architecture professors and students.

In last year’s AIA Middle Tennessee Design Awards competition, GS&P received a Merit Award in the Built category for their design of Bridgeport, W.V.’s United Hospital Center Replacement Hospital and an Unbuilt Award for their design of the Shanghai International Medical City.