AIA Announces 2013 National Healthcare Design Awards

July 23, 2013July 23, 2013 1774 Views Eastern U.S., Gold Medal award, Greenway Group

WASHINGTON — Earlier this month, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) selected 12 projects for the AIA National Healthcare Design Awards program, which highlights the best of health care building design and health care design-oriented research.

Judged by seven jurors, the 12 projects were selected in five categories, including Category A: Built, Less than $25 million in construction cost; Category B: Built, More than $25 million in construction cost; Category C: Unbuilt; Category D: Innovations in Planning and Design Research, Built and Unbuilt; and Category E: Master Planning Urban Design for Healthcare Settings.

Four projects were chosen for Category A: Built, Less than $25 million in construction cost, including:

1. UCLA Outpatient Surgery and Oncology Center; Santa Monica, California,  Michael W. Folonis Architects. The outpatient surgery, oncology treatment and medical office facility follows the trend of incorporating a natural, less clinical environment to promote healing in patients. It is the only project to win AIA-AAH Awards in both on-the-boards and built categories. 

2.  Peace Island Medical Center; Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington,  Mahlum. Island resources are extremely limited for the facility, making sustainable choices fundamental. The Living Building Challenge provided a guide for sustainable initiatives, decoupled mechanical systems, greatly reduced potable water use and minimal energy use.  

3. Adamsville Regional Health Center; Atlanta, Stanley Beaman & Sears. The 34,000-square-foot building houses a primary care clinic, a behavioral health clinic, childcare facilities, a dental clinic and a workforce community center, and incorporates the communal folk art of quilting and contemporary art from local artist Radcliffe Bailey to provide a community-inspired setting.

4. The Everett Clinic Smokey Point Medical Center; Smokey Point, Washington,  ZGF Architects LLP. The new Smokey Point Medical Center houses 20 different medical specialties in a two-story, 60,000-square-foot clinic and is designed to improve the patient experience by reducing wait times and providing comprehensive care in a single easy-to-access community location.

Three projects were chosen for Category B: Build, More than $25 million in construction cost, including: 

1.  University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital; Minneapolis, Minnesota, Tsoi/Kobus & Associates. Today, the six-story hospital is setting new standards for safety, comfort, and clinical efficiency by consolidating the pediatric programs and inpatient units. An interactive interior design theme, “Passport to Discovery,” enlivens the interior, aids in wayfinding, and offers opportunities for diversion and discovery.  

2. Palomar Medical Center; Escondido, California, CO Architects.  Palomar Medical Center is in the first phase of development of a new 35-acre campus that includes a 360-bed acute-care hospital and a new central plant. The design features garden spaces at every level of the 11-story nursing tower and uses green-roof technology that extends the landscape and improves views from the patient rooms.

3.  San Antonio Military Medical Center an addition to the Brooke Army Medical Center; Fort Sam Houston, Texas,  RTKL Associates, Inc.  The San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC) is the largest inpatient medical center for the U.S. Department of Defense and the agency’s only American Burn Associated-verified burn center. The building, which opened in 2011, adds 102 beds, a rehabilitation clinic, expanded operating room capabilities, a new emergency department and a new patient bed tower.

Only one project was chosen for Category C: Unbuilt:

1. Sheikh Khalifa Medical City; Abu Dhabi, UAE Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in a joint venture with ICME & Tilke as ITS. This model enhances patient care through specialization while improving efficiency through shared services. Envisioned as a city within a city, the design creates a bustling campus-like environment of distinct character and is based on the notion of patients as guests.

Three projects were chosen for Category D: Innovations in Planning and Design Research, Built and Unbuilt, including:

1. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating Room (AMIGO); Boston,  Payette.  Unlike other medical facility suites, Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s AMIGO Suite, an operating room is linked to adjacent imaging suites, enabling the patient to remain static while the machines — including a 33,000-pound MRI — move from one chamber to another in the midst of a surgical procedure.

2. Rethinking the need for emergency department beds;  Lennon Associates.   The project found that 60 percent of emergency department patients did not need to be in a bed, but could be seen in a less intense setting. Building fewer beds means the need for fewer staff members and requires a new physical layout to accommodate the new patient flow.

3. Kaleida Health, Gates Vascular Institute and UB Clinical Translational Research  Center; Buffalo, New York,  Cannon Design.  The 476,000-square-foot facility consists of stacking a translational research building over a clinical vascular institute. The first four floors of this 10-story vertical campus, house the Gates Vascular Institute, with the Clinical Translational Research Center occupying the top half of the building. Situated between the two, is a two-level collaborative area — the binder that connects doctors and researchers from varying specialties to meet in a variety of dynamic situations to accelerate medical discoveries — moving science from the bench to the bedside.  

Only one project was chosen for Category E: Master Planning Urban Design for Healthcare Settings, and included:

1. Focal Point Community Campus; Chicago,  HDR Architecture, Inc.  The hospital’s design links the hospital to its community through a band of food and retail markets, fitness centers and more that runs along the third floor of the building, and its ground floor its grounds feature wellness gardens, soccer fields, and basketball courts. 