New York City’s largest freestanding cancer center opens

Perkins Eastman Architects, Ennead Architects, and ICRAVE have collaborated on the 25-story David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City’s largest freestanding cancer care center.

The $1.5 billion, 750,000 sf facility is an assemblage of smaller-scaled facade elements designed to break up the massing into smaller volumes to create a more welcoming building. The smaller volumes are responsive to the various programmatic needs for openness and privacy inside. The facades texture balances the opacity of terra cotta fins with the transparency of glass, providing a distinct exterior identity and an interior environment with natural daylight and views of the East River.

Comprising 231 exam rooms, 110 infusion rooms, 37 procedure rooms, and 16 inpatient beds for those requiring a short stay, the facility is expected to receive an average of 1,300 patients and support an additional 1,300 staff every day. Areas that will help patients and caregivers relax and rejuvenate have been organized around the themes of restoration, recreation, and activation.

David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Photo: Andrew Rugge-Perkins Eastman.

The David H. Koch Center for Cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is a collaboration among Perkins Eastman Architects in association with Ennead Architects; Perkins Eastman Architects as Medical Planner and Interior Designer of Clinical Spaces; and ICRAVE as Experiential and Interior Designer of Public Spaces. The building has been designed to reduce energy consumption and operate an optimal efficiency even in the instance of a 500-year flood event, and is also on track to achieve LEED Gold certification.

Rural hospitals present unique opportunities and challenges for healthcare facility operators. Oftentimes, the infrastructure and building systems have not been updated for years and require significant improvements in order to meet today’s modern medical demands. Additionally, as these smaller, more remote hospitals are acquired by larger regional and national healthcare systems, the first step by new ownership is often to update and rehabilitate the building. But how can this be done thoughtfully, economically, and efficiently in ways that allow the engineering and facility staff to adapt to the changes? And how can the updates accurately reflect the specific needs of rural communities and the afflictions with which these areas most commonly face?