Marlon Blackwell, NBBJ, Kliment Halsband among 2017 AIA Healthcare Design Awards winners

Healthcare facilities matter just as much as the important services they provide to their communities. In this spirit, the AIA's annual Healthcare Design Awards spotlight exemplary healthcare-building design and healthcare design-oriented research projects by U.S.-based architecture firms. Winning projects are noted for demonstrating strengths in aesthetic, civic, urban, and social concerns, as well as awareness of the functionality and sustainability of designing a hospital.

For 2017, the jury selected seven winning projects total across four categories. Check them out below.

Category A - Built: Less than $25 million (construction cost)

Neighborcare Health, Meridian Center for Health; Seattle
NBBJ

Project summary: “Partially funded by a federal grant, the Meridian Center for Health is a first of its kind: an integrated, one-stop model for health treatment and prevention for underserved Seattle-area residents. Uniting three health organizations under the same roof, the center provides low- to no-cost medical, dental, and mental health services for adults and children. Design elements include an open floor plan, a dramatic feature stair in the lobby, and a range of team and community spaces that remain available for neighborhood organizations after hours. The Center is tracking to receive LEED Gold certification.”

Harvey Pediatric Clinic; Rogers, Arkansas
Marlon Blackwell Architects

Project summary: “Situated in a fast-developing area, the Harvey Pediatric Clinic is an abstract figure set in contrast to the excess of materials, weak forms, and beige tones that make up the everyday suburban landscape that surrounds the building. The cayenne-color metal panel wraps the entire south side of the building, providing a strong identity for the practice. Patients enter the building, pass through and ascend a stair that is washed in blue light from the skylight above. Sixteen exam rooms are organized along a simple, clear circulation path defined by several skylights that bring natural light deep into the building.”

Category B - Built: More than $25 million (construction cost)

Mercy Virtual Care Center; Chesterfield, Missouri
FORUM STUDIO

Project summary: “The Virtual Care Center exemplifies this Catholic health system’s bold commitment to the future of healthcare. This first-of-its-kind facility advances Mercy’s mission of transformative care while dramatically improving outcomes through population management. The design blends the built with nature through an authentic use of materials and space. A palette of stone, glass, precast and wood coupled with flexible floor plates create an environment that fosters innovation, collaboration and patient centric care. The Virtual Care Center, the genesis of a national consortium of virtual providers, pioneers a new model of care.”

UC San Diego Jacobs Medical Center; La Jolla, California
CannonDesign

Project summary: “Reflective of UC San Diego’s vision toward the future intersections between technology and medicine, Jacobs Medical Center is designed as three hospitals in one with focus on women’s and children’s, cancer and specialty surgery. The tower is the cornerstone of a new campus identity focused on the future of health, pairing cutting-edge, modern medicine with best-in-class patient experience.”

Category C - Renovations/Remodeled: Primarily built within existing hospital or clinical space.

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Suite; Park Ridge, Illinois
Philips Design and Anderson Mikos Architects

Project summary: “The design team worked closely with key stakeholders to achieve Advocate Health Care Heart Institute’s goal of improved customer experience, safety, and outcomes. The new cardiac catheterization suite transforms the way people receive care through the complete transformation of patient, family and staff experiences. The resulting optimized flow and journey includes a transradial recovery lounge, labs that inspire confidence while improving safety, and a first-of-its-kind prep/recovery bay solution that enables a less stressful recuperation personalized for each patient. The Advocate experience has been redefined through the service and spatial design transformation for this Suite.”

Bayshore Dental; Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
Johnsen Schmaling Architects

Project summary: “This project is the ambitious reinvention of an abandoned building and its transformation into a state-of-the-art clinic for a young dentist and her small staff. The project’s rigorous architecture and meticulous details echo the ethos of the flawless efficiency, uncompromising precision and exacting purity at the center of the innovative dentistry performed here. Procedural flow strategies informed the clinic’s overall layout. A continuous ceiling plane leads patients from the light-filled reception to the individual operatories, each marked by green vertical panels and light strips that animate the clinic’s central corridor. White oak cabinetry and green accents complement the intentionally restrained interior palette, all contributing to a deliberately serene ambiance intended to appease a sometimes-apprehensive clientele.”

Category D - Unbuilt: must be commissioned for compensation by a client with the authority and intention to build

Ambulatory Surgical Facility; Kyabirwa, Uganda
Kliment Halsband Architects

Project summary: “This independent, off-the-grid ambulatory surgical facility is a replicable prototype for the five billion people in the world who lack access to safe or affordable surgery. The building is composed of three functional elements: a reception pavilion with offices grouped around a family waiting area courtyard, an intermediate pavilion for pre-op and post-op activities, and a sterile pavilion with two operating rooms and related support spaces. These elements are sheltered under a solar panel shade structure, inspired by the banana plants on the site.”

The 2017 jury included: Gregory Wieland, AIA (Chair) Altus Studios; Tama Duffy Day, Gensler; Rick del Monte, FAIA, BeckGroup; Robin Guenther, FAIA, Perkins+Will; John Kouletsis, AIA, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.; Joan L. Suchomel, AIA, Eckenhoff Saunders Architects and Stephen Yablon, AIA, Stephen Yablon Architecture