Client

Denver Health and Hospital Authority

Location

Denver, CO

Expertise

Healthcare

Services

Architecture

Accolades

LEED Silver Certified

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Denver Health Medical Center offers health care to some of the city’s most vulnerable populations. When the facility needed to expand the services on its downtown campus, the Denver Health and Hospital Authority called on Gresham Smith to design a new Pavilion for Women and Children. The addition embraces family-focused patient care and honors Denver Health’s commitment to providing at-risk patients with leading-edge care, setting a new standard for publicly funded healthcare facilities.

212k
square feet
1st
public hospital to achieve LEED Silver certification
6
stories

The new pavilion provides ample space for women and children, including labor and delivery rooms, C-section rooms, regular and ICU beds for pediatric patients, neonatal ICU beds and mother-baby beds. The facility features amenities, such as decentralized nurse stations just outside patient rooms, that provide privacy for the community’s at-risk patients. Both private and patient labor and delivery rooms feature family areas with sleeping space and the convenience of a kitchenette and children’s play areas. The facility’s NICU also features a sleep area so that family members can stay close by.

Prioritizing Denver Health’s focus on safety, Gresham Smith tested major process concepts and the schematic design for potential vulnerabilities using a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). In addition to the FMEA tool, we offered a series of training sessions to Denver Health physicians and staff to heighten awareness around the impact the environment has on safely delivering healthcare.

Our design team incorporated energy-saving features throughout the facility, including low-emitting materials and daylighting strategies. Thanks to its sustainable design, Denver Health Medical Center was the first public safety-net hospital in the United States to obtain LEED Silver certification.