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PROJECT REPORT: HEALTHCARE BUILDINGS
“It features a protruding triangular form, breaking out from the curvilinear facade, signifying cutting edge research.”
Patient experience & layout The patient experience was placed at the heart of the design. “Strategies to ease wayfinding, such as orienting all public functions of the north side of the building, to co-locating registration on level one, to a close and proximal parking structure – each step of a patient’s journey was considered in the design,” Campbell explains. Before working on the layout, HKS undertook a “design diagnostic” of an existing Emory healthcare space in order to inform this design. The process highlighted several areas for improvement, such as poor wayfinding, a decentralised check-in system, waiting areas with no windows, no collaboration between clinic pods, excessive travel distances, and a bottleneck at imaging.
Equally important was the inclusion of research space – HKS were aware this was “at the core of Emory’s mission”
for areas of respite,” says Campbell. “These forms were crafted to educate users about the body while adding a touch of delight and distraction for patients.”
The car park has been clad in perforated metal panels, “whose pattern recalls the microscopic structure of bone cell anatomy, in keeping with the project’s objective of embodiment,” Campbell explains. Architectural precast concrete wall panels and glazed curtain walling form the exterior of the institute itself. To combat overheating, electrochromic glass from SageGlass was specified for the building’s south facade, which automatically tints to prevent solar gain, while still allowing views out. This in turn reduces the energy consumption required to keep the building cool. Internally, material choices were largely dictated by sustainability, with “environmentally responsible” choices including terrazzo flooring, sustainably harvested wood panels, gypsum walls, and composite decorative panels. Continuing the theme of drawing inspiration from the building’s end use, the sixth floor design was inspired by the research that would take place within it. “Since research is used to inform future orthopaedic treatments, it was important for the research component to be located at the top of the facility,” explains Campbell.
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Patient-family advisors were involved in all design committees throughout the design process, which took just over a year to finalise. Frontline staff – physicians, researchers, nurses, technicians, security professionals, and environmental service workers – were also heard in town hall meetings, “contributing their unique perspective to ensure the design met the vast array of user needs in a building of this complexity,” says HKS. Emory’s mission was to locate all the services addressing the needs of an orthopaedic patient in one place, including surgery, imaging, physical therapy, the cafe, education, and physician practices. “The floorplans are organised in a way that maximises consistency in the patient experience while allowing for the maximum amount of flexibility in the future,” says Campbell. The fixed elements, such as lifts and stairs, and mechanical, electrical, and technology rooms – are located around the perimeter.
Simple wayfinding and clinical adjacencies were implemented, such as locating imaging, physical therapy, and surgery closer to the entrance for the benefit of mobility-impaired patients. Clinician examination space, on the other hand, is located on higher levels (three to five), to take advantage of the light-filled waiting spaces that run the length of the building. Views of the natural environment were important – from a patient wellbeing perspective as well as wayfinding. Further
ADF DECEMBER 2022
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