Healthcare Design - September 2020 - 36

HCD 10

O UT S TA N D I N G
O RG AN I Z AT I O N

HKS INC.
Dallas

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION: HKS represents a team of more than 1,300 architects, interior designers, urban designers, scientists, artists, structural engineers, anthropologists, and other professionals collaborating across industries
and around the globe in 24 offices. Staff members are inspired by a corporate
mission to create spaces that "delight, heal, and improve performance." Established in 1939, the firm is guided by a research-driven approach to its projects
through its in-house research team as well as a not-for-profit research entity, the
Center for Advanced Design Research and Evaluation (CADRE).

Texas Health Hospital and UT Southwestern Medical Center

3636

SEPTEMBER 2020

INDUSTRY IMPACT: HKS designs environments that respond to changing needs,
with a focus on optimizing and measuring outcomes for both patients and caregivers. To facilitate the process, the firm relies on well-developed protocols to
assist healthcare providers in navigating tough issues-a tactic that's even more
important today, as the firm and its clients navigate issues such as telehealth,
infection control, and surge capabilities. In the wake of COVID-19, HKS looked
beyond the traditional healthcare campus, as well, being at the forefront of the
industry's exploration of alternate care sites by assessing hotels, schools, and entertainment venues for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Most importantly,
throughout the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, HKS has worked diligently to share
quickly the lessons it learns, through webinars, articles, and conference sessions.
Efforts like these establish HKS as a leading firm that doesn't just deliver healthcare projects but works to improve the healthcare design industry for all. 

HCDMAGAZINE.COM

TOM HARRIS

ProMedica Toledo Hospital, Generations of Care Tower

YEAR IN REVIEW: HKS' cross-disciplinary practice regularly leverages the firm's
specialized areas of expertise. The result within the past year is an impressive collection of projects that illustrate the success of this approach. Take ProMedica
Toledo Hospital's Generations of Care Tower, a 686,000-square-foot, 464-bed
inpatient tower, which utilized parametric modeling and applied research to
evaluate the current state of operations, then translated the data into computational design tools that allowed the team to optimize a future state design to increase caregiver collaboration and eliminate silos. At the 325,000-square-foot,
74-bed Texas Health Hospital and a 120,000-square-foot medical office building
for UT Southwestern Medical Center in Frisco, Texas, HKS delivered a health
and wellness destination that improved access to specialized care. Specifically,
the 20-acre campus was connected to the surrounding community via walkways
and green spaces, inviting the community inside the site and building that houses
a coordinated network of research, education, and multidisciplinary services. A
final example of the firm's work can be found in the design and planning strategy
for the 1,277-bed Taikang Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China, which created a model for a large-scale module system that could be quickly adapted to accommodate
various treatment methods, medical equipment, and patient load. That model
was put to the test before the building even opened, as the hospital responded to
urgent patient surge needs tied to the outbreak of COVID-19, with HKS and its
consultants and partners working to convert the unfinished general care hospital
to a 1,060-bed, high-acuity pandemic facility within just 10 days.
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Healthcare Design - September 2020

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