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

John King describes a new, 7.6-acre hospital campus in the heart of Oakland, California as accessible only by car or ambulance—in other words, "enough to make you sick."

1 minute read

July 21, 2014, 9:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


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."

Monday, July 14, 2014 in San Francisco Chronicle

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