Opened in December 2024, the new Cooper Green Mercy Health ambulatory care facility in Birmingham, Ala., brings together a full spectrum of physical and mental health needs under one roof. The 5-story, 210,000-square-foot facility houses 18 clinics offering primary and specialty care, urgent care, imaging, dental, laboratory services, rehabilitation, and a range of behavioral and social services.
Centennial Quilt reflects Cooper Green’s legacy
Seeking a unifying design language to connect these diverse services while celebrating the organization’s rich legacy, the Birmingham-based team at Gresham Smith found inspiration in a powerful, deeply meaningful symbol: a handmade quilt.
Few objects capture warmth and comfort quite like a quilt. Rooted in Southern culture and rich with symbolism, quilts embody connection, care, and community voice. They represent the strong bonds of community and carry stories across generations. These themes evoke a sense of connection and belonging, and they are deeply embedded in the culture of Cooper Green.
A cherished piece of this legacy is the Centennial Quilt, which hung for decades in the original hospital’s lobby.
Created in 1989 by local artist Mary Bullock Johnson, the quilt commemorated 100 years of care for those in need in Jefferson County and hung for decades in the original hospital’s lobby.
Unlike traditional geometric patchwork styles, the hospital’s tapestry tells a visual story through carefully layered and stitched appliqué fabrics that depict caregivers and patients, including a nurse in a classic white cap, a physician holding a child, and other figures.
Gresham Smith’s quilt design ties together ambulatory care facility
This emphasis on storytelling through craft resonated deeply with the Gresham Smith team, shaping both the conceptual and physical elements of the new facility design. Specifically, the interior design team created a contemporary, multidimensional mural for the main lobby, delivering “a new quilt for a new era.”
Featuring a traditional star pattern, the mural combines layered textures and imagery drawn from local history and culture—depicting civil rights sites and landmarks, historic churches, locally-owned family restaurants, and gathering spaces. The composition serves as a visual anchor, welcoming and orienting patients and visitors upon entry.
Throughout the facility, an echo of a quilt’s patchwork can be found in the intersecting forms that create the wood grille ceilings, custom vertical space dividers, and wall reveal patterns. For example, using stile-and-rail wall trim, an asymmetric grid creates a subtle patchwork effect that ties together patient waiting areas across all floors.
Quilting makes appearances in the artwork, too. Framed photographs of works by Alabama’s Gee’s Bend quilting collective, custom wallcoverings informed by improvisational quilts, and other fiber-based forms appear throughout the facility, serving as both visual landmarks and wayfinding tools.
By using the quilt as both inspiration and lens, the design team crafted a place that feels “stitched together” with intention and care like the very quilt that inspired it.
Erin McCullar Griffo, IIDA, NCIDQ, is a senior healthcare interior designer at Gresham Smith (Birmingham, Ala.) and can be reached at [email protected].
