The AIA Healthcare Awards program recognizes the best of health care building design and health care design-oriented research. Projects exhibit conceptual strengths that solve aesthetic, civic, urban and social concerns as well as the requisite functional and sustainability concerns of a hospital.

Recipients were selected in four different categories: category A: built, less than $25 million in construction cost;
category B: built, more than $25 million in construction cost; category C: unbuilt, must be commissioned for compensation by a client with the authority and intention to build;
and category D: innovations in planning and design research, built and unbuilt.

Category A

Cleveland Clinic, Brunswick Family Health Center Emergency Department; Cleveland Westlake Reed Leskosky:

This addition to the Cleveland Clinic Brunswick Family Health Center provided a new 22,500-square-foot emergency department, a processing lab, an imaging center, a second-story expansion space of 17,000 square feet intended for future fitout as exam rooms and offices and a roof top heliport.

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center Pediatric Emergency Department; Spokane, Wash.:

This addition creates a safe, calming environment for young patients in traumatic circumstances. The building’s “emergency red” panels serve as recognizable focal points on the medical campus, while a light-filled atrium accented by wood and warm colors welcomes visitors arriving from the sheltered drop-off zone. Clinical and public spaces employ graphics, art, comfortable furnishings and inspirational displays to create restorative surroundings. The Kid’s Club overlooks a healing garden, providing refuge and views for patients and their families. Advanced medical care is delivered via central care team zones close to patient care areas; glass partitions allow visual connections with acoustical privacy.



New York Hospital Queens Astoria Primary Care Clinic; Queens, N.Y.:

This new offsite primary care clinic is one in a series of new neighborhood practices intended to raise the profile of the New York Hospital Queens in the surrounding community. Located in Astoria on a corner site along a busy thoroughfare, the two-story brick building was completely gutted to accommodate new exam and consultation rooms. A perforated metal screen masks the irregular pattern of existing windows on the ground floor, allowing daylight to enter during the day and artificial light to emit a glow at night. An illuminated ceiling is visible through the full height glass, contributing to the unique presence of NYHQ in the neighborhood.

Vitenas Cosmetic Surgery and Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique:

This ambulatory surgery center is squeezed into a tight 19,100-square-foot site that was completely redeveloped. The resulting three-story building reflects the surgeon’s personal style and emulates the quality of his cosmetic surgery practice. The exterior is clad in white metal panels, corrugated zinc panels and white plaster, which are all accented by a two-story corner "jewel box" window wall.

Category B

Bridgepoint Active Healthcare; Toronto, Canada:

Bridgepoint Active Healthcare is designed to meet the needs of those coping with complex chronic disease. It’s in a setting inspired by nature, and rehabilitation is fostered by motivating recovery through salutogenic design that connects with a person’s sense of physical and emotional well-being. There are panoramic views in every patient room, open terraces on the roof, mid-tower and at grade provide broad visual engagement with the surrounding community.

Category C



Fifth XiangYa Hospital; ChangSha, China:

The Fifth XiangYa Hospital is slated to anchor the developing community adjacent to Xianguling Park. The hospital is connected to the park, both physically and visually. The new 2,500-bed hospital will provide an integrated environment. Each half of the campus is organized around a central concourse, along which all the clinical functions are organized. The meandering inpatient towers hover above it. Two levels of service functions and parking provide the operational base below ground.

Robley Rex VA Replacement Medical Center and VBO Office Building; Louisville, Ken.:

The future Robley Rex VA Medical Center integrates nature with architecture, and patients and families will find solidarity and respite in a light-filled concourse, quiet air gardens and elevated courtyards. Designed as a full replacement of the existing facility, the new facility is planned for 1 million square feet of inpatient and outpatient services and 104 beds,

Category D

Studio Dental Mobile Unit, San Francisco
Studio Dental’s mobile unit travels to businesses, offering convenient dentistry. The 26-foot-long trailer with 230 interior square feet features a waiting area, sterilization room and two operatories. The sterilization room is hidden behind millwork panels that wrap around to form the patient waiting bench. A centralized, double-sided millwork panel houses equipment for both operatories and gestures up to 11-foot-plus ceilings with translucent sculpted skylights.

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“In many ways, we’re addressing what the marketplace is telling us — that there really is an opportunity here for us,” said LPA President Dan Heinfeld, FAIA, in a statement. “We think that the pairing of Rick and our firm give a really exciting new opportunity in the marketplace to address the industry’s changes.”

Founded in 1965, LPA has more than 200 employees with multiple offices in California cities, including Irvine, Roseville, San Diego and San Jose, as well as an office in San Antonio. The firm provides services in architecture, sustainability, planning, interior design, landscape architecture, engineering and graphics. LPA said in a statement that there is no sustainability director working at the company; instead, more than 80 percent of the professionals working there are LEED accredited, including the human resources director, CFO and several other support staff.

The newly formed LPA Healthcare’s mission is to bring a “unique approach to design that has not been seen in the industry before.” The studio hopes to assist health care facility administration and staff with healing patients and increasing wellness in more efficient ways without sacrificing the quality of care and patient experience.

According to Karen Thomas, CID, LEED AP BD+C and principal at LPA, teams of in-house architects, designers, medical planners and engineers will be collaborating in real-time, with a focus on sustainability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Working as a team will create environments for healing spaces based upon the patients’ and providers’ needs.

“A key challenge is being able to appropriately and cost-effectively interpret a brand image within a health care space. LPA brings a keen expertise to clients in this area, with almost a retail approach to branding and to facility design that’s rarely seen in health care facilities,” Thomas said in a statement.

Previously, LPA worked with Metagenics to incorporate their brand at a new, 45,250-square-foot headquarters facility in Aliso Viejo, Calif. LPA said the new facility weaves the Metagenics brand and vision in every aspect of the project through the use of graphic displays and signage.

“The integration of LPA’s experience serving the developer industry to find cost-effective solutions, coupled with the technical experience of providing health care design services with ever-increasing complexity will bring something to the table, which I believe will be very beneficial to our clients as the cost of health care delivery continues to rise,” Wood said in a statement.

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“Hospitals nationwide are transforming their purchasing practices to avoid toxic chemicals, buy healthier food and beverages, and become energy efficient and less wasteful,” said Gary Cohen, founder of HHI, in a statement. “This report shows that clear trends have emerged and innovative hospitals are implementing strategies to reduce costs, improve their environmental performance and support broader environmental health goals.”

More hospitals are committing to reducing diet-related diseases such as diabetes, the report states. More than 630 hospitals responded to questions related to sustainability efforts. The study found these hospitals spend more than 15 percent of their food budget on local and sustainable food, with an average of $23.7 million spent in 2013. That’s an increase of 350 percent versus the previous year.

More hospitals report that they are also not buying as much sugar-sweetened beverages. All told, nearly $42 million was spent on healthy beverages, which made up 77 percent of total spending.

What’s more, the percentage of hospitals purchasing PVC/DEHP-free products went up by 60 percent. Hospitals are also demanding that upholstered furniture not contain toxic flame retardants or other unsafe chemicals. Almost $700,000 was spent on compound-free furnishings in 2013.

One of the most significant efforts toward sustainability was reprocessing medical devices. When these devices were reused, the hospitals saved more than $45 million, a 33 percent increase over 2012.

“This report shows that we have made significant progress, but our work is not done,” said John Messervy, AIA, chair of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative and director of capital and facility planning for Partners HealthCare, in a statement. “As we move into the third year of the initiative, we will continue encouraging hospitals to purchase more environmentally preferable supplies, serve healthier foods, use less energy and reduce waste.”

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These projects express the best of health care building design and health care design-oriented research, according to the AIA. The designs were chosen based on their strengths that solve aesthetic, civic, urban and social concerns as well as the requisite functional and sustainability concerns of a hospital.

Recipients were broken down into four categories: Category A, built, less than $25 million in construction cost; Category B, built, more than $25 million in construction cost; Category C, must be commissioned for compensation by a client with the authority and intention to built; and Category D, innovations in planning and design research, built and unbuilt.

Category A

• Legacy ER – Allen
• Allen, Texas
• 5G Studio Collaborative (Dallas)

Legacy ER operates a hybrid program offering urgent and 24/7, state-licensed emergency care services within a freestanding building. Completed in November 2013, the 8,500-square-foot facility was conceptualized as a reflection of the organization’s identity. The architecture captured the duality of the emergency medical professionals’ character, projecting outwardly the knowledge, skill, precision and decisiveness necessary for the competent practice of emergency medicine and expressing inwardly the gentle, empathic and humanistic qualities. Points of admission of natural daylight and views create apertures that elucidate intersecting tectonic moments.

This project also won a 2014 Metal Architecture Design Award from Metal Architecture for the Metal Roofing category and a 2013 AIA Unbuilt Award.

• Lightwell: Greater Boston Orthodontics
• Waltham, Mass.
• Merge Architects (Boston)

Merge Architects gutted a hundred-year-old storefront and warehouse on Main Street in Waltham to create an orthodontic clinic with reception and treatment areas flanked by semi-private offices, tooth-brushing stations, exam rooms and a staff coffee area. The focal point of the space is a double-height treatment space framed by an 18-foot-tall backlist translucent wall carving down in section to frame and light the open treatment area. CNC-cut plywood ribs skinned with thin polycarbonate panels funnel light from skylights above. The front waiting space is defined by a custom seating area and digital media bar, wool felt applied to walls, a custom light pendant and bright custom wall graphics to provide wayfinding.

The project also won a Best of 2013 award in the health care category from Interior Design Magazine.

Category B

• Lancaster General Health Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute
• Lancaster, Pa.
• Ballinger (Philadelphia)

Opened in July 2013, the 100,000-square-foot Lancaster General Health Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute is developed around a progressive model for cancer care and employs an interdisciplinary and patient-centric approach. Focused on regeneration and reconnection to living systems, the building’s radial form derives from an existing elevated, curvilinear arrival or parking court, which has become a central courtyard healing garden. The expanded oncology program is arrayed around the garden on two levels. Glazed skins and multiple points of access provide a continuous dialogue between interior and exterior, creating a visually open environment that reduces anxiety and stress for patients and their families.

• Mount Sinai Hess Center for Science and Medicine
• New York
• Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (Chicago)

Located in upper Manhattan and built in 2013, the Mount Sinai Hess Center for Science and Medicine places researchers, clinicians, educators and patients in an integrated environment with state-of-the-art technology. The 420,000-square-foot facility is specifically designed to foster multidisciplinary interaction through a network of formal and informal settings. The primary design objective was to craft a flexible environment that would be inspiring and supportive for employees, while also being gracious and dignified for patients and their families. Inside, natural light and a warm, simple material palette puts cancer patients at ease.

• Rush University Medical Center’s New Hospital Tower
• Chicago
• Perkins+Will (Chicago)

Perkins+Will planned and designed an 840,000-square-foot hospital building as part of Rush University Medical Center’s 10-year, $1 billion campus transformation project. Beginning in 2006 and ending in 2016, Rush has been building new facilities, renovating existing buildings and adopting new technologies. Crowned by a butterfly-shaped bed tower designed to minimize the distance between staff and patients, the new hospital is comprised of 304 acute and critical care beds, 72 neonatal intensive care beds, and 10 labor and delivery beds. The emergency department contains one of the country’s few bioterrorism preparedness facilities, and is designed to handle large-scale health emergencies. The hospital is one of the largest in the world to be certified LEED Gold.

Category C

• Children’s Hospital of Richmond Pavilion (CHoRP)
• Richmond, Va.
• HKS Inc. (Dallas)

At the gateway to the medical campus, the Children’s Hospital of Richmond Pavilion consolidates existing pediatric clinics into a compact vertical urban pavilion. The facility is dedicated to providing comprehensive health care for children and adolescents, and contains a surgery level, three levels of pediatric clinics, a faculty/research floor and seven levels of parking. Adjacent to some of the city’s most important civic structures, the design establishes a signature identity that embodies Virginia Commonwealth University’s objective of becoming the region’s premier pediatric academic medical institution. Drawing inspiration from natural elements that are unique to the city of Richmond, the design is intrinsically tied to its location. Themes of sky, water and forest bring nature to the heart of this urban campus. 


Category D


• Cincinnati Children’s Family Pet Center
• Cincinnati
• GBBN Architects (Cincinnati)

Opened in summer 2013, The Cincinnati Children’s Family Pet Center is believed to be the first pediatric hospital–based facility in the U.S. to reunite patients with their pets. The pet center expands the hospital’s pet therapy program with a 250-square-foot pavilion and lawn area that accommodates patients on foot, in a wheelchair or on a stretcher. This pavilion addresses the medical needs of the children and the physical dynamics of pets, based on research on the healing benefits of Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT).

• GHESKIO Cholera Treatment Center (CTC)
• Port-au-Prince, Haiti
• MASS Design Group (Boston)

Nearing completion, the GHESKIO Cholera Treatment Center is the first permanent facility in Port-au-Prince. The CTC provides an aggressive model for cholera treatment, while creating a healing space that promotes a dignified patient experience. Both the CTC’s layout and placement of amenities optimize staff and patient flow. The design tackles unique site conditions, including the lack of reliable piped water and lack of sewer system connection by providing off-the-grid services. The roof collects rainwater, which is stored in cisterns, chlorinated and then used for showers and sinks. The facility also decontaminates waste on site and is designed to achieve almost 100 percent removal and inactivation of Cholera Vibrio and other pathogenic organisms. The façade blends the use of the most advanced technology, using parametric modeling to optimize apertures for daylighting, ventilation and privacy, with deploying analog techniques for local fabrication. The CTC will not only establish new standards for cholera treatment, but also new standards for quality construction in Haiti.

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The award for projects that have already been built, with a construction cost totaling less than $25 million, went to the inpatient Willson Hospice facility at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. The 34,000-square-foot structure in southwest Georgia sits on 210 acres of beautiful forested land. The building achieved a LEED Silver certification and was the first health care facility in the world to earn a Signature Silver Sanctuary designation by Audobon International. The project was designed by Chicago-based Perkins+Will, with Alabama firm Brasfield & Gorrie serving as construction manager.

Massachusetts General Hospital received the award for a fully constructed project totaling more than $25 million in construction cost for its Lunder Building. The multipurpose facility hosts 150 inpatient beds, procedural programs, forward-looking technologies, and new emergency and radiation oncology departments. The structure is sensibly organized, with the procedural program located on the lower levels and the inpatient beds in their own areas on the higher floors. The building completes an urban campus in downtown Boston by tying five previously existing facilities together. The feature most likely to be noticed by patients is a multi-story atrium garden that runs through all five inpatient floors. The award announcement recognized the structure for employing a performance-based design, “utilizing research to reduce falls and injury; minimizing medical error and infection; improving staff productivity and communication; and enhancing patient and family healing, comfort, and satisfaction.” The structure was designed by NBBJ out of Washington State, while New York-firm Turner Construction served as construction manager.

In the category of facilities yet to be built, Kenya Women and Children’s Wellness Center in Nairobi, Kenya took the prize. The project will consist of several new facilities, which will be part of the United States International University. The additions will include a 170-bed hospital, specific outpatient clinics for women and children, a family village, an institute of learning, a gender-violence recovery center and a forensic laboratory. The structures were constructed and organized specifically with the Kenyan climate in mind. The buildings are long and narrow and oriented east to west to minimize heat gain. Overhangs on the north and south faces provide shade, while the construction of east and west walls minimize direct solar radiation. The structures are naturally ventilated to best suit the temperate climate. The project was the second award winner designed by Perkins+Will.

The National Intrepid Center of Excellence won the award for innovations in planning and design research, which allows both built and yet-to-be-built projects to apply. The building will house efforts to advance the research, diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injuries. The facility will focus on the wide range of possible negative outcomes associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI), including cognitive, physical and psychological disabilities. The structure utilizes a multidisciplinary clinic concept that mixes clinical and research functions, including sophisticated technology like advanced imaging and virtual reality, which will go side by side with efforts to allow families to be deeply involved in patients’ recovery processes. The award announcement explained the center “is a prototype for similar military and civilian TBI centers worldwide, and will serve as the primary hub of a network of satellite clinics now under development.”

SmithGroupJJR, out of Detroit, designed the project with New York firm Plaza Construction serving as construction manager.

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