Bridging the Gap
Our architects, interior designers, engineers and graphic designers worked in collaboration to deliver the medical office building. In order to meet substantial compliance due to an existing exterior-design proffer connected to the site, the design had to walk a delicate tightrope between the historic and modern. To achieve this, we made a series of seemingly benign modifications to the design in order to arrive at an architecture that fits into the historic context of the area but is unmistakably playful and modern.
Throwing Shade
Due to the site constraints, the envelope design had to accommodate a less-than-ideal north-south building pad orientation. A north-south orientation poses the environmental challenges of glare and solar heat gained from low-angled sun that heats up a space and reaches far into the interior of a building. We met this challenge by locating the lobby on the southeast corner of the building, which brings in an abundance of natural light during the morning hours while preventing a lot of heat gain in that space. By using solar shades around the exam room windows on the upper floor we reduced the overall building energy consumption by 3%.
Keeping It Simple
Simplicity in planning as it relates to simplicity of the user experience was a hallmark of the design. The most important planning goal was to create a clear, simple, and efficient diagram that enhances the user experience by maximizing daylight and views. Each clinic is accessible from a public concourse and is marked with portals for wayfinding.
Progressive Planning
To encourage physical activity among staff and visitors, a monumental stair that connects the building’s first and second floors was located between the waiting areas. The MOB’s clinics are arranged sequentially within the building perimeter, connected by a well-defined public spine that links the entrance, the clinics, the waiting areas and vertical circulation. The clinic design encourages communication by grouping the physicians’ offices and nurse stations into an open, collaborative hub at the back of the clinic. By locating the staff and materials corridor along the back of the clinics, the back-of-house flow of materials, technicians, and doctors was removed from public view.
Exam rooms are fully templated so staff can easily flex between departments as demand rises and ebbs. The standardized clinic design allows the building to accommodate brand-new modalities into the existing spaces without renovation. Even the walls are demountable to ensure the facility is flexible for Kaiser Permanente’s future needs.
Serving Kaiser Permanente Members Old & New
Offering a wide range of specialty clinical services, including adult primary care, family practice, behavioral health, imaging, OB-GYN and optometry, Kaiser Permanente Haymarket Crossroads Medical Center is now bringing high-quality, integrated healthcare to more than 7,000 Kaiser Permanente members in the Prince William County area while attracting new members to the system. Notable for its sustainable strategies and the use of clinic standardization practices, the medical center is on track for LEED CI certification.
Due to the success of this project as well as others for the client, Gresham Smith was selected to participate in Kaiser Permanente’s “Center of Excellence” program with the purpose of driving the AEC industry forward in developing a kit-of-parts construction process for healthcare architecture.