There are plenty of examples of well-designed and inspiring healthcare projects in our industry today. From beautiful patient rooms with spa-like bathrooms to work spaces the truly support and reinvigorate the doctors, nurses, and staff members putting in those long, hard hours.
So I love it when that same level of detail and importance of design shows up in some unexpected places—like campus support buildings.
Most renovation projects face challenges with bringing outdated facilities up to code or creating more modern and inviting environments. But when Parkview Noble Therapy sought to turn a former funeral home into a new physical rehabilitation center, it faced an even tougher obstacle: changing community perception.
An engaged group of healthcare leaders, architects, and industry professionals gathered last week in Chicago for the annual Summer Leadership Summit presented by the American College of Healthcare Architects and The American Institute of Architects Academy of Architecture for Health.
The design of Mercy Health’s new West Hospital (Cincinnati) features a large horizontal footprint—and an enormous roof. Since a driving principle in the design was connecting the facility with the surrounding landscape (using such elements as expansive windows, ample daylighting, and complementary color palettes), the design team also decided to think about how the roof could play a part in creating that setting.
In this series, Healthcare Design asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.
Paula Crowley is CEO of Anchor Health Properties (Wilmington, Del.), a healthcare development company. Here, she shares her thoughts on branding, flexible building design, and taking lessons from retail to better understand consumer needs and site selection in healthcare.
1. You’re only as good as your brand
Bringing the artistic façade at Mercy Health's new West Hospital (Cincinnati) to life involved an artistic vision, mock-ups, a dose of technology, and a leap of faith.
As healthcare shifts from treatment of existing illness to more preventive care, the opportunities for the built environment keep expanding. We’ve now got flu vaccine clinics in our grocery stores while former retail spaces in commercial areas are being converted to outpatient facilities.
Completion date: November 2013
Owner: Mercy Health
Total building area: 645,000 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: NA
Cost/sq. ft.: NA
Design architect: AECOM with Mic Johnson, lead designer
Architect of record: Champlin Architecture
Interior design and equipment planning: AECOM
Landscape architect: Close Landscape Architecture with Meisner + Associates/Land Vision
MEP engineer: Heapy Engineering
Low voltage and structured cable: Dynamix Engineers
Structural engineer: THP Ltd.
When Mercy Health (Cincinnati) decided to replace two older hospitals on the west side of Cincinnati with one centrally located facility, the provider also saw an opportunity to support an anticipated evolution of services in years to come.
For starters, the organization sought to expand its network by adding a center of excellence in cardiac care (including an open heart surgery program) and a family birth center, services that weren’t available at its former Mt. Airy and Western Hills hospitals.
Healthcare facilities are paying greater attention to the importance of family members in patient care and upgrading or renovating their family and visitor spaces to be more welcoming, with places to sit as well as grab a bite to eat and stay connected with work and friends.
When Hasbro Children’s Hospital (Providence, R.I.) opened in 1995, the pediatric division of Rhode Island Hospital included family space on its patient floors with a few couches for sitting and watching TV.
In this series, Healthcare Design asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.
David Surette is director of healthcare and life sciences at Shawmut Design and Construction (Boston). Here, he shares his thoughts on construction schedules, expanding behavioral health services, and the changing space of healthcare facilities.
1. Communication is critical in construction
When Jenifer LaRose, an RN, CPN, and clinical manager of the sixth floor at Hasbro Children’s Hospital (Providence, R.I.), started her career in nursing 20 years ago, she says families were not embraced as part of a patient’s care team.
And even if hospitals had designated spaces for families spending time in the hospital with their loved ones, they typically held a couch or two and a TV, but nothing that really made them feel welcoming and home-like.
