AWARD OF MERIT – 2021 Healthcare Design Showcase

CallisonRTKL partnered with Saint Francis Health System to design and brand their outpatient clinic model and experience. Our team developed a modular clinic prototype design, turning the traditional model inside-out and allowing it to effortlessly adapt in various configurations to different sites around Tulsa.

Leveraging the benefits of this modular design, a unique on-stage/off-stage approach fosters collaboration through a comprehensive staff “home team” area while providing patients with opportunities for privacy and respite—elevating the experience for all users. On-stage, visitors enter the clinic into a gallery space and are escorted to decentralized waiting areas outside each exam room. Off-stage, staff home teaming areas are created for collaboration, which give staff direct access into each exam room, remaining separate from visitors, ensuring patient confidentiality and efficiencies are maximized. Additionally, this on-stage/off-stage approach decreases the risk of unnecessary interaction between patients often found in a typical group waiting room concept — a critical consideration in healthcare design today.

Using natural light as a primary driver, the modular approach maximizes visual access to exterior courtyards and light for both visitors and staff. “Light from Above” was the theme, which resonates throughout the design. Daylight for visitors occurs from the moment they enter the clinic, through a light-filled gallery area. Once visitors arrive to their exam room, they either sit down outside the room or are escorted inside. While sitting outside, they have direct views to the exterior with floor-to-ceiling glass walls. Inside each exam room, natural light enters through clerestory glass above. In the discreet home team area for staff, natural light floods the space thorough two skylights above that run the entire length of the space.

A key objective for the Warren Clinic was to establish and reinforce the connection to the Saint Francis Health System brand in communities that may not have already had a presence. The Warren Clinic brand is strengthened with the integration of a pink-infused glass wall, an element people can identify and engage with as they approach the site. As a glowing beacon at night, the legacy wall reinforces the clinic’s connection to the community it serves.

“The new on-stage/off-stage model is working out very well and has improved staff efficiency and satisfaction for all. We have received positive feedback from our patients on how peaceful the space is; they love the access to natural light throughout. The clinic design and new model has enabled our team to provide a higher level of care to patients in our service area through northeastern Oklahoma,” says Collin Henry, vice president, Warren Clinic.

Project category: New construction

Chief administrator: Jake Henry Jr., president and CEO, Saint Francis Health System

Firm: CallisonRTKL, www.callisonrtkl.com

Design team: CallisonRTKL (master planning, architecture, design and planning, interior design)

Total building area (sq. ft.): 14,642

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $362

Total construction cost (excluding land): $5.3 million

Completed: February 2018