HOK/Urbana has created a design that is sensitive to the existing hospital building, the practice landscape, and the environment. The centre is aiming for LEED Silver accreditation.

"The new wing is reflecting the new age for health care," explains HOK/Urbana's practice leader, architect Hagen Materne. The emphasis on green design goes hand-in-hand with new healthcare design philosophies, like allowing as much daylight as possible into patient rooms, having operable windows and avoiding materials that off-gas. "We're using new design approaches; maximizing daylight with windows, using natural materials that are benign, and the skin of the building reflects that. With health care facilities, it's the internal plan that shapes the design."

The current 654,312-square-foot building houses 480 beds. It will be renovated to include a redesigned diagnostics and imaging department, state-of-the-art operating rooms and improved outpatient clinics. The new tower addition will add 215,000 square feet.

For design cues, the team drew with the yellow brick of the original building, along with strong horizontal components that complement the Prairie landscape. "There are long views, big views and the horizontal lines came from that. The large rooftop has really strong horizontal development," Materne says. "The landscaping reflects the foothills, so we have local plantings and prairie grasses to bring some of that prairie back into the design."

Source: "A Health Care LEED-er", Building, February/March 2006.