Former Newspaper Site Exhibits Latest Patient-Centric Design, ‘Spa-Like’ Women’s Center

Cuningham Group Architecture has unveiled designs for the Providence Breeze Advanced Care Center. The medical facility recently opened in Torrance, California – on the site of the former Daily Breeze newspaper facility – with the City of Hope Cancer Center. Additional tenants will join the facility in 2019, all exhibiting advanced approaches to patient-centric care.

Owned by Providence Health Services, the three-story, 106,000-square-foot (not including parking) care center will house a women’s center, imaging center, ambulatory surgery center, clinics, medical and surgical oncology, infusion center and two linear accelerators. Cuningham Group is the executive architect and designer of tenant improvements, including all the interior medical facilities. CallisonRTKL is architect of record for the exterior core shell. Snyder Langston is serving as general contractor.

Design highlights

Patient centric: Core common areas and entries are created for the public or patients. Staff will arrive through other entries.

Concierge service: Rather than a traditional registration desk, the center offers a concierge desk – as in a hotel – with a person at a table or where guests can register on a kiosk. The front areas include a coffee shop.

Living room seating: Waiting areas are broken up into separate clusters. This creates a home-like, living-room feeling. Even the more clinical spaces emphasize warm, natural materials, with spaces that feel less like a hospital and more like hospitality design.

Spa-like: The women’s center component offers a resort-style approach, with a softer ambiance and warm materials to diffuse the stress sometimes associated with mammograms and other treatments. Organic-patterned screens in the waiting room hearken to biophilic design. Symbolic images of nature help to reduce stress. Purple accent walls provide an updated spa feel and the fireplace is a nice touch to help ground a person.

This more home-like design – not harsh or sterile – extends to the entire complex.

Photos courtesy of ©Derek Rath.