Healthcare Design - December 2019 - 14

14

DECEMBER 2019

TOP, L E FT: Common
spaces include outdoor
courtyards, an indoor
rock garden, group
counseling spaces, and a
landscaped plaza. TOP,
RI GH T: Floor-to-ceiling
windows throughout the
six-story building connect
staff and patients to the
outdoors. A B OV E : The
expansive lobby features
operable windows and
natural daylighting, while
a rich palette of varied
materials and textures was
used to foster a calming
environment.

stress, anxiety, and claustrophobia," he says.
Two large, open-air courtyards that extend
all the way through the building bring natural
light, ventilation, and views of the outdoors
into the core. An additional winter garden in
the center of the floor plate on the ground level
is covered by a skylight and offers a central orientation point for the elevator lobbies.
Designed to target LEED Silver certification,
the building also incorporates operable windows in the expansive lobby, solar shading systems, and green roofs.
"The result is a welcoming, healing environment that reduces stress with a calming atmosphere, easy and intuitive wayfinding, and
strong connections with the outdoors," Lawlor
says. -Anne DiNardo, executive editor

BEN BENS CHNEIDER

T

HE VA PUGET Sound Health Care System provides comprehensive care to more than 110,000 veterans across
nine facilities in the Pacific Northwest. It also operates
the VA's fifth largest research program and seven Centers of Excellence. Earlier this year, the program took
steps to further improve the care offerings of its Seattle
division by bringing all outpatient mental healthcare
services and a state-of-the-art prosthetic lab under one
roof at that campus. "The consolidation of most of its research programs
into one central location enhances collaboration and the VA's ability to
push the boundaries of medicine in areas from lower limb prosthetic design and engineering, Alzheimer's disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder to rehabilitative medicine, suicide prevention, and oncology," says
Ian Lawlor, project director at Stantec (San Francisco), which provided
architecture and interior design services on the project.
As the first major addition to the campus in decades, the project team
took advantage of the 220,000-square-foot project to build a new 1,000car parking garage; establish a direct pathway to the new mental health
and research building as well as the existing hospital; and create an entrance plaza with distinct entrances to each building and the parking
structure. To minimize travel distances to and from the building for veterans with limited mobility, the lower levels of the new parking structure
extend under the entrance plaza, bringing accessible parking right up to
the hospital entrance.
On the exterior, designers incorporated a variety of façade materials to
reflect and support the building's internal functions. For example, major circulation and waiting spaces on each floor are located along a "main
street" on the south side of the building, where a high-performance
glazed curtain wall system was used to provide those spaces with views to
the outdoors and abundant daylight tempered by integral shading.
Inside, high-volume spaces, such as the substance abuse clinic and education facilities, are located on the first floor to provide easy, direct access, while programs that require more private settings, including offices
and exam rooms, are located on the upper levels.
Larry Bongort, architect at Stantec and senior healthcare planner on
the project, says an important element of the design was the incorporation of daylight. "It was particularly important in all the consultation
and exam rooms to provide views to the outdoors to mitigate feelings of
Healthcare Design - December 2019

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