Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital Replacement Facilities Open

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital, a replacement facility to the existing Shore Memorial Hospital located in Onancock, Virginia, has recently opened. The replacement facility includes a new 139,100-square-foot hospital, as well as the 15,185-square-foot Riverside Shore Cancer Center and the 25,390-square-foot Riverside Medical office building. The new facilities provide a contemporary setting for care in a more central location for the community. CallisonRTKL served as architect on the project.

The exterior design features detailed brick construction with accents of vertical precast banding and an architectural concrete block table. The design team added a pergola to shade an external dining terrace and utilized decorative lighting sconces, which highlight the vertical precast banding to give the hospital visual presence at night. The interior design features warm colors and wood laminates to enhance patient comfort, promote wayfinding and to espouse Riverside Health System’s brand.

CallisonRTKL’s transitioning team ensured a seamless move between the old and new facilities. The team met with each department to evaluate floorplans and patient, service and staff flows to prepare for operations in the new space. They discussed the logistics of the move with each department’s manager and ensured all departments were ready for VA Department of Health site survey requirements and the patient move.

With the opening of the new hospital, CallisonRTKL completes a six-year commission to develop an architectural and operational community hospital prototype that was envisioned by Riverside Health System. Riverside Doctors Hospital Williamsburg (Virginia), also designed by CallisonRTKL, opened in May 2013, and was the first facility to implement the prototype design. Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital now becomes Riverside’s second facility to feature this design. The architecture firm worked closely with Riverside Health System to tailor the original plan to create two distinct “sister” facilities, addressing the specific needs of each community in which they reside.

The general contractor on the project was Turner Construction.