Gresham Smith was initially charged with designing a 100-bed hospital, but it soon became apparent that the community didn’t merely need to replace what was lost. They needed a new facility that was rightsized and designed to provide an efficient, flexible and patient-centric healthcare environment. We conducted a detailed market analysis to determine the optimal number of beds for the replacement hospital and recommended that a 76-bed facility—with the potential to expand to up to 250 beds—was much more reasonable and financially sustainable.
The new 76-bed, 190,000-square-foot hospital and three freestanding medical office buildings were arranged on the 40-acre campus using the principles of New Urbanism—a strategy that looks at how a building fits within the larger whole. Rather than design a single building, we decided to create a “medical village” that organized the hospital building and three MOBs around a public town square, allowing the heart of the campus to serve as a stage for community events while reflecting Phoebe Sumter’s commitment to Americus.
Evidence-based design strategies such as family zones and bedside control of the room’s environment were incorporated into the patient rooms. To provide patients with a pleasant view and add to the facility’s overall sustainability, a roof garden was situated on top of the hospital’s main building. Phoebe Sumter Medical Center was the first LEED Silver-certified medical campus in the southeastern United States.