Design Competition Rethinks the Role of the Hospital

James Brasuell reports on the results of a competition sponsored by healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente aiming to transform healthcare design in California by breaking from traditionally sterile and isolating hospital environments.

1 minute read

April 24, 2012, 9:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Kaiser Permanente, which has been at the forefront of healthcare innovation since its founding in the 1930s and 40s, recently announced San Bruno, California–based Aditazz and Portland-based Mazzetti Nash Lipsey Burch (M+NLB), with the New York office of Perkins+Will (P+W) as the winners of its "Small Hospital, Big Idea" competition.

Intended to re-imagine the role and design of 60- to 120-bed hospitals in small communities, "The winners' designs united hospitals with their communities and encouraged healthy activity. M+NLB/P+W's concept envisioned a hospital that transitions from a "sick care" to a "total health" environment, with outdoor plazas and public spaces. The team's wellness pavilion is a highly glazed public concourse located above a rehabilitated desert landscape, creating a "beacon" of healthy civic and community behavior," explains Brasuell.

Friday, April 20, 2012 in The Architect's Newspaper

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

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