The new Phoenix 32nd Street VA Clinic, spanning roughly 275,000 sf over 15 acres, is one of the largest veteran care facilities in the U.S. The facility will serve half a million patient visits a year and house multispecialty and telehealth clinics, an education center, pathology, and imaging services.
The five-story structure hosts one of the largest outpatient mental health clinics in the area, providing counseling and specialty mental health services. Floors three, four, and five feature an innovative planning approach for the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) module, which can accommodate 72 PACT teams that have access to 180 exam rooms. Efficiently laid out clinical space through the PACT module’s on- and off-stage model protects patient privacy, promotes intuitive wayfinding, allows providers to spend more time with patients, and minimizes staff and patient fatigue.
The building’s design incorporates extensive daylighting features such as lightwells in darker parts of the facility, panoramic views of the Arizona mountains, and access to green space and outdoor activities to create a relaxing environment for veterans and their families. Interior design features reflect Arizona’s vibrant colors and geological formations, such as deep fissures carved into the façades and roof that imitate the rugged terrain.
Due to the hot desert climate location, sustainability was a priority. VA Phoenix incorporates high-performance glazing and perforated, adjustable solar panels that reduce glare and heat from the Arizona sun while lowering energy costs. The design achieved Two Green Globes certification.
Amenities include a full kitchen and canteen for staff and patients on the first floor. Architects Hoefer Welker have designed more than 30 VA facilities to reflect veterans’ health needs, including common areas, easy navigation, and an overall focus on healing and hospitality, according to a news release.
“VA projects are very unique because they’re centered around a mission to give back to the veteran community, which has very specific healthcare needs,” said Hosam Habib, AIA, Hoefer Welker partner and director of design.
On the building team:
Owner and/or developer: U.S. Federal Properties (USFP)
Design architect: Hoefer Welker
MEP engineer: Smith & Boucher
Structural engineer: Bob D. Campbell & Co.
General contractor/construction manager: Jacobsen Construction
Related Stories
| Mar 14, 2011
Renowned sustainable architect Charles D. Knight to lead Cannon Design’s Phoenix office
Cannon Design is pleased to announce that Charles D. Knight, AIA, CID, LEED AP, has joined the firm as principal. Knight will serve as the leader of the Phoenix office with a focus on advancing the firm’s healthcare practice. Knight brings over 25 years of experience and is an internationally recognized architect who has won numerous awards for his unique contributions to the sustainable and humanistic design of healthcare facilities.
| Mar 11, 2011
Renovation energizes retirement community in Massachusetts
The 12-year-old Edgewood Retirement Community in Andover, Mass., underwent a major 40,000-sf expansion and renovation that added 60 patient care beds in the long-term care unit, a new 17,000-sf, 40-bed cognitive impairment unit, and an 80-seat informal dining bistro.
| Mar 11, 2011
Research facility added to Texas Medical Center
Situated on the Texas Medical Center’s North Campus in Houston, the new Methodist Hospital Research Institute is a 12-story, 440,000-sf facility dedicated to translational research. Designed by New York City-based Kohn Pedersen Fox, with healthcare, science, and technology firm WHR Architects, Houston, the building has open, flexible labs, offices, and amenities for use by 90 principal investigators and 800 post-doc trainees and staff.
| Mar 11, 2011
Mixed-income retirement community in Maryland based on holistic care
The Green House Residences at Stadium Place in Waverly, Md., is a five-story, 40,600-sf, mixed-income retirement community based on a holistic continuum of care concept developed by Dr. Bill Thomas. Each of the four residential floors houses a self-contained home for 12 residents that includes 12 bedrooms/baths organized around a common living/social area called the “hearth,” which includes a kitchen, living room with fireplace, and dining area.
| Mar 3, 2011
HDR acquires healthcare design-build firm Cooper Medical
HDR, a global architecture, engineering and consulting firm, acquired Cooper Medical, a firm providing integrated design and construction services for healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. The new alliance, HDR Cooper Medical, will provide a full service design and construction delivery model to healthcare clients.
| Mar 1, 2011
New survey shows shifts in hospital construction projects
America’s hospitals and health systems are focusing more on renovation or expansion than new construction, according to a new survey conducted by Health Facilities Management magazine and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE). In fact, renovation or expansion accounted for 73% of construction projects at hospitals responding to the survey.
| Feb 22, 2011
HDR Architecture names four healthcare directors
Four senior professionals in HDR Architecture’s healthcare program have been named Healthcare directors.
| Feb 17, 2011
HDR Architecture sponsors national effort to green operating rooms
HDR Architecture, Inc. has joined the group of corporate sponsors of Practice Greenhealth’s Greening the Operating Room Initiative. This sweeping and prescriptive path to green the nation’s operating rooms was launched earlier this year to reduce the environmental footprint of the operating suites in hospitals across the country, which can produce between 20 and 30% of a hospital’s total waste.
| Feb 11, 2011
Iowa surgery center addresses both inpatient and outpatient care
The 12,000-person community of Carroll, Iowa, has a new $28 million surgery center to provide both inpatient and outpatient care. Minneapolis-based healthcare design firm Horty Elving headed up the four-story, 120,000-sf project for St. Anthony’s Regional Hospital. The center’s layout is based on a circular process flow, and includes four 800-sf operating rooms with poured rubber floors to reduce leg fatigue for surgeons and support staff, two substerile rooms between each pair of operating rooms, and two endoscopy rooms adjacent to the outpatient prep and recovery rooms. Recovery rooms are clustered in groups of four. The large family lounge (left) has expansive windows with views of the countryside, and television monitors that display coded information on patient status so loved ones can follow a patient’s progress.
