Review: New Oakland Hospital a Case Study in Urban Design Failure

San Francisco Chronicle architecture critic reviews Kaiser Permanente's new hospital in Oakland as "a behemoth that other municipalities should study - for pointers on what not to allow." The hospital's failures are troubling for the possibilities of designing modern hospital facilities for urban areas.

"The reality of today's America is that - rightly - we want seismically safe hospitals that offer a soothing environment for patients, and are convenient and well-equipped. The trade-off is structures with dimensions that don't easily fit into established urban districts," King writes.

Also disappointing is that Kaiser Permanente's Oakland hospital is "the hometown flagship of a major health care organization founded in 1945."