Contract - October 2012 - (Page 50)

HealtHcare Los Angeles Center for Women’s Health HMC Architects designs a one-stop healthcare facility in downtown Los Angeles By Michael Webb Photography by David Wakely Over the past two decades, hotels have commissioned sybaritic spas and wellness centers while investing heavily in well-appointed bathrooms and costly bed linens to pamper their female guests. But when women are sick, the choices are limited. “The healthcare industry still doesn’t understand how great an impact environmental design has on a person’s emotional wellbeing, and its value in attracting patients and building up a brand,” says Pamela Maynard, design principal of HMC Architects in Ontario, California. She speaks from personal experience and her 30 years of designing healthcare facilities. With that body of experience, Maynard earned the commission to design the Los Angeles Center for Women’s Health, a model facility on the downtown campus of California Hospital Medical Center. Fortunately, the clients included Ari Babaknia, M.D., a Johns Hopkins–trained women’s health specialist whose insight into women’s medical issues was valuable to the project’s design. “This is an idea whose time has come,” Babaknia declares, “a comfortable inviting space where busy professional women can satisfy many of their medical needs under one roof.” He recounts an experience: “A patient said to me, ‘I’m sick and tired of putting different parts of my body in different parts of town.’” Babaknia invited specialists in gynecology, cardiology, urology, and oncology to join him in a group practice that’s located in a 17,000-square-foot space at the top of a four-story office building. By the experts, for the ladies Further emphasizing female empowerment, Maynard worked with a team of women on the design. When the project was almost complete, the design team shared renderings with focus groups. “We asked them if this was a facility they would leave their existing doctor to come to and we got a very positive response,” she recalls. 50 contractdesign.com OctOber 2012 http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - October 2012

Contract - October 2012
Contents
Editorial
Industry News
Exhibition: HD Boutique
Product Focus: Take a Hint
Product Briefs: Health and Wellness
Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center
Los Angeles Center for Women’s Health
Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation
Healthcare Environment Awards
Kaleida Health, Clinical and Medical Research Building
Old Town Recovery Center
Baystate Medical Center
Legacy Health Randall Children’s Hospital
Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Brooklyn Infusion Center
Community Hospital @ Yishun
Mercy Medical Center Rooftop Garden
Rehab + Space Center
Heart Care Center
Practice: “Next Practices” in Healthcare Design
Design: Foster + Partners Develops Master Plan for Cleveland Clinic Growth
Exhibition: Studio Gang Architects at the Art Institute of Chicago
Designers Select: Lighting
Sources
Ad Index
Renovation: Saving Lives by Updating an Icon

Contract - October 2012