MILWAUKEE, Wis. — HGA Architects and Engineers has won two AIA Wisconsin Design Awards for architectural excellence in AIA Wisconsin’s annual awards program. Winners include Virtua Voorhees Hospital in Voorhees, N.J., which won an Honor Award and Cambridge Commons at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which won a Merit Award.
Virtua Voorhees Hospital focuses on work processes and the patient experience. Located on a 120-acre campus, the 368-bed, 680,000-square-foot state-of-the-art hospital is defined by three major areas of care: Women and Children, Obstetrics, and Adult Medical and Surgical.
The building program fits into two primary masses: A curved patient bed tower and a regular-shaped testing, surgical and support-services block. Natural materials are used throughout to create an inviting, healing environment.
“The power of this scheme is the access to light,” the jurors said. “It keeps the relationship to the outside always very close and maintains a connection for the patients and visitors between the inside and the views of the outside.”
The Honor Awards jurors included Allen Eskew of Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, New Orleans, La.; Lynn Grossman of Cannon Design, St. Louis, Mo. and Kevin Nordmeyer of BNIM, Des Moines, Iowa.
The awards were announced May 2 at the Annual AIA Wisconsin Convention & Building Products Expo in Madison, Wis.
