Kaiser Permanente’s Lutherville-Timonium Medical Center is a 225,000-square-foot bed-less hospital and seven-story parking garage, located about 13 miles from downtown Baltimore. The interventional platform includes an advanced urgent care and surgery center, and a clinical tower includes primary care, oncology, orthopedics, optometry, OBGYN, behavioral health, and other specialties. The location was selected to ensure diverse transit accessibility, with on-site bus and light rail stops, and to redevelop an existing brownfield site.
The hospital design speaks to the needs of the unique traffic flows of both vehicles and people, and choreographs their experience, whether people are gathering at the site or passing through to another community destination. This allows the campus to serve as a front door to the neighborhood, welcoming visitors and public transit commuters with murals, sculptures and artwork. The exterior design also embraces aspects of nearby communities, including the young, tech-oriented and transient community of Towson and historic, post-industrial Baltimore. LEED Gold Certified, a 40,000-square-foot photovoltaic array above the top floor of the garage generates clean energy, a green roof provides a positive distraction for patients in the oncology center, and vertical fins mitigate the western solar exposure of the clinic waiting rooms.
square feet
specialty clinics
projected energy savings over 30 years
A Community in the Crossroads
Located on a 5-acre sliver of land between Interstate 83 and Maryland’s Light Rail, and adjacent to a large Metro Bus Stop, the facility is located at a crossroads for various transit corridors, giving patients and staff numerous transportation options. Whether arriving by bus, car or train, our team purposefully planned pedestrian flows to give visitors a cohesive experience. The design also incorporates a Thrive Walk, a vegetated walkway featuring sculptures and a bold mural created by local artists, that runs from the public transit stops all the way to the facility’s front door.
A Striking Exterior
Using a variety of prefabricated components, the L-shaped building’s diagnostic and treatment block is clad in a rust-colored steel wrap that nods to Baltimore’s industrial history, while the taller tower uses large expanses of glass and modern fins to reference the City’s technology-fueled future. The adjacent seven-story parking garage is draped in wire mesh that complements the medical building while allowing air and light to make their way deep into the space. A drop-off canopy connects the two structures, using glass and perforated metal to create a light, airy feel.
We Have That Service
In addition to primary care, 24/7 urgent care, and a full range of radiology services and pharmacy operations, the 225,000-square-foot space also houses specialty medical and surgical care, including optometry, oncology, orthopedics, obstetrics/gyn, behavioral health, and more. A monumental stair in the two-story main lobby encourages physical activity and connects visitors to retail, dining and ancillary functions, while the clinics are accessible from a main circulation zone that runs the length of the tower. The interior furniture and finishes complement the exterior, using black and rust-colored metal to honor Baltimore’s history and bold pops of Kaiser Permanente’s brand colors to modernize the space. Strategic signage and clinic-specific color schemes aid in wayfinding.To allow the facility to flex as Kaiser Permanente’s membership base continues to grow, the team utilized specialized steel connections, demountable wall partitions, and pre-manufactured head walls. Additionally, a standardized clinic design will enable the building to accommodate new modalities without renovation.
Going for Gold
The tight site left medical planners with a less-than-ideal building orientation, however the team rose to the challenge by working within the site constraints to create a unique solution that integrates within its’ surrounding context. Understanding that the heat gain on the southern and western sides of the building would be high, ultimately impacting energy usage and costs, vertical fins and glass fritting were utilized to control glare and solar radiation, while still flooding the facility with natural daylight and maintaining views of the neighboring residential communities. Additionally, over 40,000 square feet of solar panels were included on top of the parking garage to generate renewable energy, and green roofs were installed to reduce the urban heat island effect and manage rainwater, while also providing a positive distraction for patients. All-in-all, the sustainable strategies used on this LEED Gold project are projected to save Lutherville-Timonium Medical Center nearly $1 million in energy costs over 30 years.
A One-Stop-Shop for Around-the-Clock Care
With an unparalleled array of primary and specialty medical care services under one roof, Kaiser Permanente’s newest hub will provide around-the-clock care for members with health concerns that are too complex for a doctor’s office but don’t require a multi-day hospital stay. By honoring the local community while providing flexibility for the future, the design for this transit-oriented healthcare development will serve Timonium residents for decades to come.Gallery
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